Poland’s Tusk rejects claims of European decline, says NATO ‘not obsolete’

MUNICH — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Saturday dismissed claims that Europe is in decline and NATO is obsolete, calling such arguments “nonsense” during a ceremony honoring Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference.Tusk said Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression represents a defining moral test for Europe and the wider West.“I hear opinions that Europe is on the brink of collapse, that NATO is obsolete, that the time has come for a transactional policy and a concert of great powers,” Tusk said.“Nonsense. Those who think that everything can be bought should also remember that, according to this philosophy, anyone can be sold.”His remarks come amid tensions within the transatlantic alliance over Ukraine, NATO burden-sharing and future relations with Moscow, as well as renewed debate over whether Europe must assume greater responsibility for its own security.Speaking as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted the Ewald von Kleist Prize on behalf of Ukraine, Tusk said no formal recognition could adequately reflect the scale of Ukraine’s sacrifice.“There is no prize good enough. Even the Nobel Prize would not be sufficient,” he said, adding that Europe should be grateful to Ukraine.Tusk rejected suggestions that the war was avoidable or provoked by the West.“The war was not a choice of Ukraine or of President Zelenskyy,” he said. “Their choice was to defend themselves.”He also warned against an international order shaped by deals among major powers at the expense of smaller states, arguing that such a vision undermines the moral foundations of the postwar Western order.“A united West is the best political creation in human history,” Tusk said, cautioning that its values face threats from both external aggression and internal complacency.Framing Ukraine’s resistance as a reminder of core democratic principles, he said: “You know how terrifying a reality without principles is. This is a Ukrainian lesson for all of us. Long live a free and independent Ukraine.”