In recent days, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced a giant wind farm in the Baltic Sea and plans to send a Polish astronaut into space -- all while constantly modernising Warsaw's army.

His goal? For Poland to "overtake" the European Unions' traditional powerhouses by the 2030s -- which, in his view, will guarantee Warsaw's security after Moscow's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

"The war is behind our border," Tusk said in a speech at Warsaw's Stock Exchange on Monday.

"This whole investment breakthrough is meant to guarantee our security," he said, alleging that unnamed Western European countries "sometimes looked down on us a little".

While politically Tusk's government has been a disappointment to many supporters -- with little progress made on promised reforms, including on women's rights -- its influence in Brussels is growing.

After three years of war next door and the departure in 2023 of its isolationist government, Poland wants to raise its status in the EU -- especially as the prospect of Ukraine peace talks approaches.

Claims by another Donald across the Atlantic that he can end the conflict in Ukraine have EU governments worried that they will be marginalised in any negotiations.

- Which European for Ukraine talks -

"Due to geography and geopolitics, as well as input in helping Ukraine, Poland's concern is to have a voice (in the talks)," said analyst Tomasz Bielecki.

There are rumours that any Ukraine peace talks will be on a Ukraine-Russia-EU-US format.

"If there was some coordinated European position, there are some early manoeuvres as to who this European will be," Bielecki said.

Poland currently holds the rotating EU presidency and Tusk has boasted of his heavy-weight status in Brussels as a former president of the European Council.

The Council brings together the leaders of all 27 EU countries and the head of the European Commission.

"Poland's voice is increasingly heard in Europe," said Monika Wielichowska, a senior lawmaker from Tusk's party who ran his election campaign.

"The (EU) presidency is an excellent tool to instill our Polish ideas and Polish pragmatism throughout the Union," she told AFP.

Poland is one of the few EU states to almost meet Donald Trump's demand that all NATO members should spend five percent of GDP on defence -- aiming for 4.7 percent this year -- and Tusk has said he wants Europe to take security into its own hands.

"If Europe is to survive, it needs to be armed. It is not our choice. I am not a militarist," Tusk argued.

- Key presidential election -

As Europe braces for what is to come under Trump, Tusk has increasingly echoed the US leader's style, urging Europeans to "hold their heads up high" and to make Europe "great again".

For Wielichowska, Poland's role is one of "a stabiliser of ties with the US and a constructive partner in Europe".

"We must strengthen European defence but also maintain strong Transatlantic ties, regardless of political changes in Washington," she told AFP.

While Tusk has proudly declared "the sky is no limit" for Warsaw, there are limitations to his ambitions.

In the EU, where GDP is an indicator of political might, Poland is nowhere near long-time leaders of the bloc like France, Germany and Italy.

Tusk's vision of Poland's place in the EU also depends on a key presidential election in May.

The vote will see a choice between Warsaw's pro-EU polyglot mayor Rafal Trzaskowski -- a Tusk ally -- and a nationalistic former historical memory institute director, Karol Nawrocki, who has appealed to some anti-Ukrainian sentiment in the country.

Trzaskowski is a supporter of close ties with Brussels.

Nawrocki has backing of the former governing PiS party -- strongly allied with Trump -- and has said Poland should focus on shaping, and leading, Europe's relations with the unpredictable US leader.