As Poland and France have signed a cooperation agreement that includes security guarantees, Lithuanian presidential adviser Deividas Matulionis says such initiatives are welcome but must not be allowed to raise doubts about trust in NATO.
Last week’s treaty signed by French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stipulates that “in the event of armed aggression on their territories, the parties shall provide mutual assistance, including by military means”.
The two leaders said that such an agreement does not replace NATO.
“There’s an attempt to create a strategic partnership between Poland and France, which is a good thing. A very welcome step,” Matulionis, national security adviser to President Gitanas Nausėda, told the radio Žinių Radijas on Tuesday.
However, when asked if Lithuania should pursue similar agreements, Matulionis said: “I don’t see any added value. It could really put into question whether we trust NATO as a defence and deterrence organisation.”
Matulionis welcomed the move to build a strategic partnership between Poland and France.
“But I think that we have to trust and have no reason not to trust NATO’s deterrence and defence policy, which is being consolidated lately and is moving towards a much stronger defence dimension,” the presidential adviser said.
Ties between Paris and Warsaw have been strengthened since Tusk took office as prime minister in 2023, when his Civic Coalition party won the general election and ended almost a decade of rule by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Amended on May 13, 15:44. An earlier version wrongly suggested that Matulionis sees the Paris-Warsaw agreement as questioning trust in NATO.
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