“This fair aims to strengthen and enhance security. It was to ensure security that I proposed in March this year, when, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Poland’s presence in NATO, we were invited to the White House together with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and when I spoke with President Joe Biden, I proposed that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance increase their minimum level of defence spending from the current established 2 percent. GDP of each member state to at least 3 percent. GDP of each member state,” President Andrzej Duda said at the defence fair in Kielce, stressing that the security situation in the country has deteriorated.
Today, it is no secret to anyone that these processes of modernization of the armed forces, which have been carried out in some countries, sometimes at a very slow pace or even at all, have not been carried out in some countries for years, especially when it was said that this was the end of history, that peace in the world would end in Basically, after 1989, there will be no more major wars. All this has changed radically in recent years.
– said the president.
Russia’s unexpected attack on Ukraine, which was in no way justified or provoked, and the war that has been going on there for more than two years, is the largest armed conflict and the largest war the world has faced since the end of the Second World War. The losses they are suffering, especially human losses, are unimaginable; there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides. Unfortunately, as a result of Russian bombing, many ordinary Ukrainians, civilians, have also died.
– highlighted Andrzej Duda.
““We need security”
Housing estates have been destroyed, Ukrainian infrastructure, which normally serves people to live in, not to fight, is being destroyed. Rebuilding Ukraine will involve enormous costs, but we believe that we will be able to complete it together. But for this to be possible and for us to do it calmly and effectively, we need security, security and once again security.
– pointed out the president.
This fair aims to strengthen and strengthen security. It was to ensure security that I proposed in March this year, when, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Poland’s presence in NATO, we were invited to the White House together with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and when I spoke with President Joe Biden, I proposed that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance increase their minimum level of defence spending from the current established 2 percent. GDP of each member state to at least 3 percent. GDP of each member state.
– emphasized Andrzej Duda.
“We are at the forefront of this spending.”
Increasing the level of defence spending and making the armies of NATO countries truly strong and truly invincible will ensure that there will be no next world war. Today there is a lot of talk about the fact that we are threatened by the Third World War. We will no longer be threatened if defence spending is implemented to a level that is adequate to our needs. And today there is a need to increase defence spending. That is why today in Poland we are at the forefront of this spending.
– observed the president.
Why? I am not a soldier, I have not been on the battlefields in my life, I have not participated in or observed any wars up close. I have been the President of the Republic of Poland for nine years, and more than two years ago I went to war-torn Ukraine. I went to the cities near Kiev and saw what was done to them. Rubble, blood in the streets, ruins of houses, ruins of workplaces, ruins of human lives and wreckage of crashed Russian combat vehicles in which the defenders of Ukraine fought, and I had no doubts then that the level of defense spending we have should be significantly increased, because we need to accelerate the process of modernization.
– highlighted Andrzej Duda.
4 percent GDP for defense
In fact, this level of defense spending is more than 4 percent. Our GDP this year, I expect, as the ministers announced, 4.7 percent. Next year’s GDP will allow us to accelerate these programs. These are huge purchases for which we have recently signed contracts. As well as the contract for the purchase of Apache attack helicopters, which I have been waiting for and negotiating for many years, which I hope will soon become part of our army’s equipment and strengthen our security.
– said the president.
Recently, articles appeared in the German media in which it was possible to read that the Poles behave as if no one would come to their aid because they draw conclusions from what happened at the beginning of the Second World War, when they were attacked and the Allies did not come. Yes, that is right. On the one hand, we behave as if no one would come to our aid, because we believe that we are primarily responsible for our own security. But today we trust our allies in the North Atlantic Alliance, we trust the words spoken by successive US presidents, most recently by President Joe Biden several times. But above all, we believe that we are a reliable ally and that is why we show our allies that we treat security responsibly.
– said Andrzej Duda.
We want to ensure our own security, but we are also aware that we are a large Central European country in a strategic location. The country that holds the leading position in this part of the North Atlantic Alliance on the eastern flank of the so-called strategic depth. A country that treats its obligations, its place and its size responsibly within the North Atlantic Alliance, the European Union and the Allies. And that is why we are making these expenditures, so that there will be no war, so that no one will dare to attack us.
– added the president.
