Eastern flank – Why Poland is crucial to Europe's defence push

This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

Podmasters

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With questions raised over Europe’s defence capabilities, Poland is one of the key nations insisting the continent needs to bolster its security. This March the European Commission announced an €800bn plan to boost continental defence. But is Europe doing enough? Gavin Esler discusses the view from Poland with Professor Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala from the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at Warsaw University. • This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni, the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to https://incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. • Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Advertising helps fund our podcasts, but we know some people would prefer the shows without adverts.
0:06.4	If that's you, why not support us on Patreon?
0:09.7	You'll get every episode without interruptions, and you'll be helping independent podcasting to thrive.
0:16.4	Follow the link in the show notes to find out more.
0:20.9	Kate's just off to work after sleeping in the best bed in the business.
0:24.9	And my word, doesn't she look ready for anything?
0:28.0	Something about her smile is just brighter.
0:30.7	Her eyes seem glintier, and she just feels so much more katia.
0:36.5	Of course, it's no surprise really
0:38.0	because last night she slept at Premier Inn
0:40.5	and she got up to 15% off with Business Booker.
0:44.1	Get better sleep for your money.
0:46.4	Premier Inn, rest easy.
0:48.6	T's and C's apply. There's a long-established expatriate Polish community in West London, where I used to live.
1:03.0	One family, near neighbours of mine, summed up for me Poland's troubled 20th century history
1:09.0	and the stubborn resistance to tyranny.
1:11.8	As a very young man, the father of the family fled the Nazis in 1939.
1:16.1	He worked with the free Polish resistance in London.
1:19.0	The mother fled the Russian occupation in 1945.
1:23.0	And after the 1989 rise of solidarity, the opposition to communism, led by Lechvoenza,
1:28.3	the family's oldest son drove aid trucks from England to Poland to help those renewing the fight for freedom.
1:35.3	Maybe those bits of Polish history and the stubbornness with which the father and the mother
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 17 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Podmasters, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Podmasters and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.