Poland Daily News - August 31, 2025

GDAŃSK, August 31 - Poland today marked the 45th anniversary of the August Agreements and the founding of the Solidarity trade union at the historic Gdańsk Shipyard, while hosting high-level EU visits to underscore the country’s role on Europe’s eastern frontier.

President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk led ceremonies at Gate 2 of the shipyard, symbolically reopening the gate where Lech Wałęsa signed the original 1980 agreement granting workers the right to strike and forming the first independent union in a communist state. Veterans, government officials, and political leaders laid wreaths and attended a Mass at St. Bridget’s Basilica in Gdańsk, paying tribute to the movement that helped galvanize the collapse of communism in Central Europe.

Simultaneously, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen joined Prime Minister Tusk for talks and a site visit along Poland’s border with Belarus near Krynki. The leaders inspected newly upgraded barriers and storage facilities for the “East Shield” defense system, pledging tighter cooperation against “hybrid attacks” orchestrated by Minsk. Von der Leyen thanked Poland for “defending Europe” and promised increased EU funding for border security, stressing that “Europe stands with you” in protecting the Union’s eastern flank.

In Brussels, von der Leyen also announced that the EU’s new €150 billion defense investment plan will yield its greatest benefits in Poland, which is set to become the bloc’s largest joint-procurement partner. She reaffirmed plans to present a roadmap for allocating the additional funds in the coming weeks, highlighting Poland’s 4.5 percent GDP defense spending-the highest in NATO-and its proposed rise to 4.8 percent next year.