"All for One": Poland, France, and Germany Agree to Strengthen Europe and Revive the Weimar Triangle
The governments of three countries, Poland, France and Germany, have pledged to make Europe a security and defence power with greater ability to support Ukraine, as fears grow that former US President Donald Trump could return to the White House and allow Russia to expand its military aggression across Europe.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne meets in Paris with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
The top diplomats of the three European countries hope to revive the Weimar Triangle format to strengthen cooperation in addressing the challenges facing Europe.
The trilateral Weimar Triangle format was created in 1991 to bring together the three most populous and militarily strongest EU countries.
The countries will also work together to counter Russia's disinformation efforts.
"Russia is trying to destroy European unity," Sejourne said after the trilateral meeting, adding that nearly 200 fake news sites have been identified in Europe.
The ministers said they had also set up a joint mechanism to detect and respond to potential Russian online attacks.
"These are attacks on our democracy," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, adding that the European Union cannot allow people's trust to be undermined.
She also said that Germany, France and Poland want to move forward with the creation of a single European defence and security architecture.
In turn, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he wanted to "revitalise" his country's relations with its key European partners.
"There is no reason why we should be so obviously weaker militarily than Russia, and therefore increasing production and intensifying our cooperation are absolutely absolute priorities," Tusk said, arguing that the EU should become a "separate military force".
Tusk, a former MEP, referred to the classic book The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas when he said that Poland is ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with France, and stressed that the philosophy underlying the EU-NATO relationship is based on the principle of "one for all, all for one".