Strengthening fuel supply chains for NATO countries on the eastern flank through the construction of new pipelines was one of the most important decisions for Poland to emerge from the summit in Ankara. Participants also reaffirmed their commitment to collective defence under Article 5, while the United States presented its concept of “NATO 3.0.” Polish politicians have described the meeting as favourable from the perspective of the country’s national interests.
“I assess the results of the Ankara summit positively. None of the pessimistic predictions that the Alliance was coming to an end proved accurate. The Americans presented a very interesting NATO 3.0 concept, which assumes that Europeans will take greater responsibility onto their own shoulders,” Adam Bielan, a Law and Justice MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, told the Newseria news agency.
“Europe must rearm, rebuild its defence industry and expand its armed forces. Thanks to pressure from President Trump, this process has been progressing for several years. Poland is undoubtedly a leader in this area, both in terms of spending and the modernisation of its armed forces.”
According to data published by NATO, Poland is expected to spend 4.68% of its GDP on defence in 2026. Among European countries, this places it just behind the three Baltic states at the top of the ranking: Lithuania, at 5.33%; Estonia, at 5.10%; and Latvia, at 4.92%.
At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, leaders had already committed themselves to increasing annual investment from a minimum of 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035, covering core defence requirements as well as broader defence- and security-related expenditure.
“It turned out to be another successful summit. I would not describe it as a breakthrough, because it was based on foundations that had already been built,” said Tomasz Szatkowski, Poland’s former ambassador to NATO.
“The United States will continue to provide us with its nuclear umbrella. There is a very strong chance that Poland will join the Nuclear Sharing programme. This is currently being discussed by the two presidents. President Nawrocki has been pursuing this since September last year, and I believe we are close to a final decision,” Bielan said.
Under NATO’s Nuclear Sharing arrangement, the United States deploys nuclear weapons in selected allied countries that do not possess their own nuclear arsenals. The weapons remain under exclusive US control and are deployed in full compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The programme is a key element of NATO’s deterrence policy in Europe.
“We hope that, as part of the redeployment of US forces, Poland will receive several thousand additional American troops and, ideally, a permanent presence in the form of a permanent base,” the Law and Justice MEP said.
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth indicated that a decision would take approximately six months. He made that statement on 18 June, so I believe that the turn of this year and next year will be the latest point at which the Americans make their decision.”
The issue was among the subjects discussed during a visit to Washington by members of the Bureau of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament from 29 June to 2 July 2026. The delegation met representatives of the presidential administration and members of Congress.
The United States is also becoming more open to expanded cooperation with European allies in the production of military equipment.
On 6 July, an agreement was signed in Bydgoszcz between the Polish Armaments Group, Military Aviation Works No. 2 and Anduril Industries. The agreement concerns the development of production capabilities in Poland for the low-cost Barracuda-500 cruise missile, which has a range of more than 900 kilometres.
“I hope that more agreements of this kind will be signed in the coming months,” Bielan said. “We also have an agreement concerning the possibility of producing Patriot missile batteries in Europe.”
During the summit in Ankara, NATO leaders reaffirmed their commitment to collective defence under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and to maintaining strong transatlantic ties.
“How should the Alliance respond to a potential Russian provocation? Firmly. An attack on any member state must be treated as an attack on all,” the MEP stressed.
“From our perspective, perhaps the most important decision was the approval of funding for the construction of a fuel pipeline that will be extended from western Germany to Poland. We had been fighting for this for seven years,” Szatkowski said.
“The solutions that existed until now were not sufficiently effective. Extending the pipeline will provide us with significantly greater flexibility in supporting our armed forces if a serious scenario develops on NATO’s eastern flank.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the Alliance would strengthen its fuel supply chain to ensure that armed forces have access to the energy supplies required to maintain combat readiness.
The plan involves expanding dual-use fuel pipelines eastwards from Germany to Poland and the Baltic states, as well as towards southern Europe. The €27 billion investment will modernise existing fuel storage and distribution infrastructure and support the construction of new facilities.
“In the event of a possible conflict, a very large share of civilian infrastructure would be taken out of operation. We need military infrastructure, which NATO had been building for years but which effectively ended at the Oder River. We must do everything possible to extend it farther east into Polish territory,” Bielan said.
