The Polish presidential candidate supported by the country’s main right-wing opposition party appeared reluctant to confirm a commitment to NATO’s key mutual-defense provision, dodging the question multiple times in an interview on Monday.
Karol Nawrocki was asked by private radio station RMF FM whether as president he would want Polish troops to defend any of the Baltic states if they were attacked by Russia.
Nawrocki talked around the issue without giving a clear answer, despite being prompted several times by the interviewer, before finally saying: “I will do everything to ensure the security of the Polish state, and I will abide by the letter of the law when it comes to fulfilling our commitments as a member of the North Atlantic Alliance.”
Earlier in the interview, he said: “I subscribe to the rule that allies only defend those who can defend themselves.”
Poland regards NATO’s mutual-defense clause as the bedrock of European security and for a presidential candidate to appear to prevaricate over his willingness to apply it contrasts markedly with the unabashed support Article 5 receives from the government and the main opposition parties, including Law and Justice.
Defense has become a hot topic in Poland and across the region as leaders have questioned the reliability of the U.S. as a guarantor of security under Donald Trump, who has in recent weeks echoed Russian rhetoric.
Poland has raised its defense budget to almost 5% of GDP and increased the size of its armed forces. However, the country still sees NATO membership as the mainstay of its security.
The presidential race
An opinion poll for private broadcaster Polsat News released on Tuesday put Nawrocki in second place on 25.9% support, trailing behind the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, on 36.4%. Trzaskowski is running for Civic Coalition, the backbone formation in the ruling coalition.
Nawrocki is losing ground to the third-placed candidate, Sławomir Mentzen of the far-right Confederation party, who is supported by 18.1% of the electorate, according to the research by pollster IBRiS.
The gap between Nawrocki and Mentzen has shrunk from 10.8 percentage points in a February poll by IBRiS, to 7.8 percentage points, the Interia news site reported.
But another survey, conducted by pollster Opininia24 for private radio broadcaster RMF and published on Tuesday, puts the difference between them at less than one percentage point, with support for Mentzen at 18.9% and for Nawrocki at 19.5%.
Nawrocki is supported by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which governed for eight years until October 2023.
The current president, Andrzej Duda, an ally of PiS, has served the maximum two terms that Poland allows a head of state.
The presidential election is scheduled for May 18. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, a run-off will be held on June 1.
