President Andrzej Duda convened the National safety Council before the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague. The military superior urged parliamentarians to enact the proposed amendment to the Polish Constitution as shortly as possible, providing for a minimum of 4 percent of GDP for defence.
A gathering of the National safety Council was held at the Presidential Palace, focusing primarily on the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague and energy security, including in the context of fresh blackouts in the Iberian Peninsula. The gathering was attended by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Speakers of the Sejm and legislature Simon Hołownia and Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Deputy Prime Minister, National Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Head of the Ministry of the Interior Tomasz Siemoniak, abroad Minister Radosław Sikorski and heads of clubs and parliamentary circles. The gathering was besides attended by the Head of the General Staff of the Polish Army General Wiesław Kukuła and president Elekt Karol Nawrocki. president Duda explained that he invited his successor to implement 1 of the most crucial issues from the point of view of the safety of the Republic.
As the head of the armed forces said after the meeting, among the topics discussed on the NATO summit in The Hague were issues concerning the increase of allied spending for defence purposes. "Today we spend almost 5% of GDP on defence, so as a state we are in favour of expanding spending and we believe that it is essential to motivate the another members of the Alliance," he stressed. He besides pointed to the second case related to securing expenditure on military safety in Poland, i.e. the change he proposed in the Polish Constitution, providing for a minimum of 4% of GDP for defence purposes. The president called on all parliamentary clubs to pass this proposal as shortly as possible.
He added that there was besides talk about the presence of US troops in Poland and assured that the Polish side would fight to make this presence stronger. – NATO unity is absolutely crucial and everything must be done to guarantee that this unity is not broken," Duda commented.
He besides referred to the issue of the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Ukraine and stressed that the government side and the president spoke with 1 voice on this issue, and this subject will besides be taken at the NATO Summit. "It is in Poland's interest that Ukraine should prosecute the West," he noted.
Finally, Duda pointed out that during the summit in The Hague he would be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz and head of the MFA Radosław Sikorski and everyone had their tasks to do. He made certain that cooperation worked out very well. "This RCN was so that the full political scene could see this uniformity," stressed the head of the armed forces.
The gathering was held in a reserved form. The president said it was a very good, substantive meeting.
The National safety Council is the President's advisory body on matters of interior and external State security.
