Nuclear deterrence, military satellites, defense industry: pro-European leaders Emmanuel Macron and Donald Tusk gave a new impetus to Franco-Polish cooperation on Monday in Gdansk, northern Poland.
“There will be work done by summer that will allow progress on concrete advances” in the field of nuclear deterrence, Mr. Macron declared in Gdansk.
“In the things we will obviously consider, there is the exchange of information, there are joint exercises, there can be deployments” of French aircraft carrying nuclear weapons in Poland, he added during a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Paris and Warsaw will also discuss support for Polish conventional forces in French deterrence in the areas of “air defense, long range, advanced warning systems, and space,” he said.
According to the Polish Prime Minister, “our cooperation, whether in the nuclear field or joint exercises (…) is a cooperation without limits.”
During the visit, an agreement for the development of a geostationary military communications satellite for the Polish armed forces was also signed by the European giants Airbus and Thales and the Polish group Radmor, in the presence of French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin and Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, according to a joint statement from the three companies.
In addition to the Minister of the Armed Forces, the French President was accompanied in Gdansk by the Ministers of European Affairs, Energy, and Culture.
Upon his arrival in this former Hanseatic city, the French President visited the cemetery where French soldiers who died in Poland, including during the 1870 war and the two world wars, are buried.
The Gdansk summit is the first concrete translation of the friendship and enhanced cooperation treaty signed on May 9, 2025 in Nancy (eastern France), which elevated Poland to the level of France’s main allies, including Germany.
– “Optimistic” –
Poland has heavily invested in modernizing its armed forces in recent years. In 2026, its military spending is expected to exceed 4.8% of GDP, far ahead of its European partners, making its budget one of the highest in NATO.
But it has mainly placed “colossal orders for American F35s, Apache attack helicopters, Patriot missiles, and Abrams tanks,” noted a European diplomat close to the matter.
Nationalist President Karol Nawrocki, citing a threat to the “independence” of his country, opposes Poland’s participation in the EU’s Safe program, which would mean tens of billions of euros for its defense, while the government sees it as an opportunity to modernize its army and industry.
While Poland has rekindled pro-European plans with Donald Tusk, it remains fundamentally committed to its relationship with the United States.
Emmanuel Macron and Donald Tusk also welcomed Hungary’s return to the pro-European orbit after the electoral defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who positioned himself as a leader of the illiberal and nationalist camp within the EU.
In this context, Mr. Macron expressed being “reasonably optimistic” about the possibility of unblocking the European Union’s €90 billion aid package to Ukraine.
With Orban’s departure, “a new era is opening in Hungary (…) and a new era in Europe,” he added.
In business, Mr. Macron advocated for the French group EDF in the tender for a second nuclear power plant in Poland. “We know how to go from start to finish in the cycle,” he insisted.
The Polish Prime Minister promised that “France will be considered one of our most important partners in all major projects.”
France and Poland, with close cultural and historical ties, will also announce a joint cultural season in 2027.
The two leaders attended the presentation of the Bronislaw Geremek Prize, named after the former Polish Foreign Minister, medievalist and Francophile, for contributions to bilateral relations, awarded in this first edition to the Polish-French actor Andrzej Seweryn, known for his theater and cinema work in both countries, opposition to the communist regime in Poland, and membership in the Comedie Francaise.
“You are cut from this cloth…someone who knows that freedom is not given, but acquired, who understands that it is not just a right, but above all a fight that serves culture, has served politics in the noblest sense of the term, for the freedom of his country, for the love of France, and for the love of a free Europe,” declared the French President addressing Mr. Seweryn.
“For many, you were a true guide and a comrade-in-arms,” emphasized Mr. Tusk, himself a former opponent of the communist regime.
The French President also met with the historical leader of the trade union Solidarity and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa.
