Deputy Defence Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka says that “the i has been dotted” on the permanent base for US troops in Poland. The document has gone to Donald Trump, and the Ministry of National Defence expects a decision in early December.
Pentagon on board, now the US president decides
On Tuesday, 10 November, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz met US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon. Before leaving, he said the main topic would be the permanent US troop base in Poland, along with servicing of Patriot missile systems and cooperation between defence industries.
After the meeting, the minister spoke of the Pentagon’s “green light” for the permanent base. On Thursday, 12 November, after the delegation returned from Washington, the deputy minister told TVN24 that the review of US troop presence in Europe had concluded with a recommendation that such a base should be established in Poland. According to her, “the work on the Polish government’s side is done,” and the document is now on Trump’s desk.
Timing: 3–4 December
The deputy minister said that, according to information received at the Pentagon, Trump will deal with the document on 3 or 4 December. She stressed that “every decision matters once there is paper,” meaning a signature. She hopes it will come in December, when the project will “start to take effect.”
In an interview with “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna,” she used the phrase about “dotting the i” and added that the government and the Chancellery of the President had a shared goal in this matter.
Location and scale
The location has still not been announced. Asked about it, Sobkowiak-Czarnecka replied: “Western Poland, and I won’t say anything more,” adding that little remains before a specific site is chosen. The Americans have examined several locations in western Poland.
Earlier, the deputy minister said the base could host about 5,000 US soldiers and their families, and that its construction would resemble “building a small town.” She also announced a special act of parliament that would speed up the investment and define the responsibilities of the ministries.
We wrote earlier about the Pentagon visit in our article on the announcement of Kosiniak-Kamysz’s trip to the US. As of publication, the White House had not announced a decision on the base.
