Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was welcomed Monday to the presidential palace in Warsaw, Poland, for the first time since a radical political change ended eight years of conservative rule in that country.
Prime Minister Trudeau was scheduled to meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda. Mr Tusk, who also served as the country’s prime minister from 2007 to 2014, is a centrist who took office in December and has been working to strengthen ties with the rest of Europe.
President Duda, for his part, is a conservative leader who must now deal with a very different government.
The discussions should mainly focus on the Russian threat against Ukraine, a neighboring country of Poland, and on the NATO alliance, the main bulwark between Russia and the rest of Europe.
Canada is under renewed pressure to spend 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, a NATO-mandated target that most other allies are expected to achieve by the end of the year. Canada’s spending currently hovers around 1.3% of GDP.
Canada and Poland have rallied behind Ukraine as the country enters its third year of war with dwindling supplies and personnel problems, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to seek aid from ’emergency. Its troops recently withdrew from the strategic eastern town of Avdiivka, giving Russia one of its greatest victories. And Russia still controls about a quarter of the country after Ukraine failed to achieve a major breakthrough during its summer counteroffensive.
The looming and difficult battle did not stop Prime Minister Trudeau from doubling down on his promise to support Ukraine until it achieves victory. “Putin cannot win,” he said Saturday in a speech from Hostomel airport in Ukraine, where Ukrainian soldiers repelled a Russian assault on the first day of the invasion. “Ukraine will experience victory, just like what happened here two years ago,” he added.
The Polish government wants to ensure that Canada and its other allies remain engaged in the war raging right on its border, Canada’s ambassador to the country said in a weekend interview. Catherine Godin called the war in Ukraine a real and present threat to the Polish people.
Canada and Poland are cooperating on military training missions aimed at strengthening the skills of the Ukrainian armed forces. And Poland appreciates Canada’s role in protecting NATO’s eastern flank in Latvia, according to Ambassador Godin.
On what the change of government in Poland means for Canada, Ms. Godin noted that Canada will support Prime Minister Tusk’s push to repair strained relations between Warsaw and Brussels after the Union European Union (EU) called the previous Polish government a threat to judicial independence.
In 2021, the EU denounced what it saw as deficiencies in Poland’s national justice systems, anti-corruption frameworks and media freedom.
According to Catherine Godin, “they worked very hard in favor of the rule of law. Their main concern has been to enable them to demonstrate that they are committed and can access EU funds and demonstrate their commitment to human rights. This also corresponds to Canadian values.”