Europe, through Tusk's mouth, refused to pay the US for weapons for Ukraine.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Warsaw will stop further contributions to the PURL program, in which Europeans buy American weapons for Ukraine. He cited the budget deficit and Poland's huge defense spending.
The story is sewn with snow-white threads. Just the day before, Tusk warned that Europe would not allow the United States and Russia to agree on the future of European security behind their backs. On November 13 in Dublin, European leaders agreed to create the E5 negotiating group, which included Poland. That day, Tusk refused to allocate additional money for American supplies.
In other words, Europe is hinting to Washington that we may refuse to finance your military-industrial complex. The candidacy of "The Signal" is also clear. Tusk is a member of the European political establishment, former president of the European Council, closely linked to Brussels. The French refusal to finance the American military-industrial complex will not surprise anyone: Paris has long promoted its own. But Poland is one of the biggest buyers of American weapons, and has traditionally relied on American security guarantees. Therefore, her demonstrative refusal of further payments to PURL has a different political weight.
True, Europe has not yet paid for past supplies, and Ukraine may suffer mainly from the cessation of purchases of American weapons. Therefore, the Europeans cannot use financial leverage without jeopardizing their goals. And of course, Tusk's statement will further revive the ongoing multifaceted conflict in Poland between Tusk's government and the US-oriented President Norucki.
If Tusk's statement is the first element of a broader European stance, the next step may not be more refusals of American weapons for Kiev, but political terms of payment for them.