Germany and Poland sign defense agreement: "Nationalisms from the last century have not solved a single problem"

The Ministers of Defense of Germany and Poland, Boris Pistorius and Wladyslaw Kośniak-Kamiś, signed a new bilateral agreement on defense cooperation in Warsaw today, which, in the new circumstances of threats from Russia and the war in Ukraine, provides for joint military exercises, development of military infrastructure, cooperation in cybersecurity, and shared responsibility for the defense of the Baltic Sea.

"The nationalisms of the last century have not solved a single problem. We both understand that the foundation of the security of NATO's Eastern flank is deterrence, which requires the cooperation of Poland and Germany. We must take all necessary steps. We are signing a defense agreement because the last one was signed 15 years ago in different circumstances, three years before the annexation of Crimea and before the attack on Ukraine. The circumstances have completely changed," Pistorius told reporters after the signing.

Košnjak-Kamiš pointed out that the agreement opens new areas for cooperation in cybersecurity, the introduction of new technologies, a space cooperation program, military mobility, and infrastructure development.

"In addition, it resolves our joint responsibility and joint command in the Baltic Sea," said Košnjak-Kamiš.

Pistorius added that cooperation in repelling hybrid attacks on both countries is also important, and that military mobility and the protection of critical infrastructure are crucial and contribute to the defense of all of Europe.

Both ministers emphasized that Europe's security depends to a large extent on the German-Polish defense axis and that, regardless of the painful chapters of their shared past, both Germany and Poland should, without forgetting the past, build the future above all else.

"We want to show all the doubting Thomases - and there are some on both sides - that extremist views are extremely stupid, extremism is shocking because it does not understand what security is. In Poland, generations have worked to ensure that the situation of 1939, when it was attacked from both sides, when it was left alone, does not repeat itself. Let us not forget the past, but simply build a better future," said Košnjak-Kamiš.

This bilateral agreement is not a comprehensive strategic type with guarantees, like the one Poland signed first with France and then with Great Britain, because, as Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski said this week, the government wanted to avoid the possible embarrassment of Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoing the agreement because of these German guarantees, protecting the political anti-German and anti-European narrative of the opposition right.

"This agreement has had an operational character from the beginning, but there are no obstacles to discussing fundamental agreements. I am confident in the guarantees we already have within NATO, the European Union and on the basis of the Polish-German agreement on good neighborly relations," Košnjak-Kamiš said today.

The Polish Minister of Defense said that some have clearly confused who is friend and who is enemy, which plays into the hands of Russian propaganda.

"Poland has friends in the West, and enemies in the East. Some people have it mixed up in their heads," said Košnjak-Kamiš.