WARSAW, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Both Poland and the United Kingdom are in favour of strengthening the transatlantic alliance as there is no alternative to cooperation with the US, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday.
“We share a similar view of the alliance with the United States. Both Poland and the United Kingdom support strengthening this alliance,” the Polish Defence Minister said during a joint press conference with British Defence Minister Wes Streeting.
He said both countries backed efforts to strengthen Europe’s defence capabilities and strategic autonomy, but not at the expense of ties with Washington.
“There is no alternative to transatlantic cooperation. Any other solution is simply worse, it is bad. But our capabilities, British capabilities, Polish capabilities, and European capabilities must be strengthened for production, for collective defense, for cooperation,” he said.
Poland and Britain signed a three-year defence cooperation plan on Tuesday covering joint military exercises and the development of defence capabilities.
Kosiniak-Kamysz also said Poland would seek to ensure that Britain could benefit from the European Union’s SAFE defence financing programme and assured that Poland will strive to “bring the United Kingdom closer to the European Union”.
(Reporting by Karol Badohal, writing by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
