Poland signs 'military Schengen' deal alongside Germany and Netherlands

Poland continues to grapple with internal and external security challenges, and Russia's behaviour remains the top concern.

Transcript

00:00 Poland has joined the so-called Military Schengen Agreement, a European initiative aimed at

00:04 streamlining troop mobility among participating states.

00:08 The agreement's also been signed by Germany and the Netherlands and is both a gesture

00:12 of solidarity with Ukraine and a concrete step towards better European security.

00:17 "The experience of what's happening in Ukraine from the full-scale war, how important it

00:22 is to move quickly to the allied forces, has made us sign an agreement that facilitates

00:29 the mobility of Polish troops, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the

00:36 Netherlands on the territory of our countries.

00:39 It's not possible to move independently from what the Ukrainians have experienced.

00:44 If we want to have the strength of an alliance, the mobility of an alliance is the most important

00:49 thing, the mobility of our armies between each other and for each other."

00:52 Daphne Bergsmer, the Dutch Ambassador to Poland, stressed that military mobility is central

00:56 to addressing growing geopolitical challenges.

00:59 "This is a next step in integration and with the growing geopolitical challenges that we

01:06 see in the world, it has become even more important that there is fast military mobility,

01:14 that there are smooth logistics. We call it a harmonised military corridor, but that's

01:22 why we thought this is essential. It's the first of its kind and we are very proud that

01:29 we as three countries have been able to achieve it. All our three countries are very actively

01:36 supporting Ukraine. This is only a small example, but it is also for us a symbol of how we are

01:43 supporting Ukraine and in that sense also are contributing to defending Europe."

01:51 Experts admit that such initiatives are legitimate and necessary and that in the case of the

01:57 need for the defence of the continent, there can be no obstacles.

02:01 "As a mechanism allowing quick and effective transfer of forces, transfer of hardware,

02:08 equipment, transfer of ammunition, any mechanism that removes borders and constraints which

02:18 hamper rapid military deployment is simply necessary."

02:23 Initiatives such as Military Schengen are important for Poland, a neighbour of Russia

02:28 and Belarus, firstly for the security reason, but secondly also in terms of its relations

02:34 within the EU. Magdalena Hrdovnik for Euronews from Warsaw.

02:38 (whooshing)