Strong society, strong army and strong alliances are 3 pillars of our safety – said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish, who took part present in the beginning of the Defence24 Days conference. During the two-day meeting, experts are to discuss, among others, the European ReArm Programme and the function of defence industries for security.
– Today, the biggest challenge is to build a defence, state and private manufacture that will be able to adopt and manage European funds – said Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, at the beginning of the Defence24 Days conference in Warsaw. The two-day debate concerns defence and safety at national and global level. The event takes place at PGE National Stadium.
The conference, organised by the Defence24 portal, is an chance to discuss and exchange experiences of representatives of government, public administration, commanders of the Polish Army, technological communities and the armed industry. The discussion panels concern the civilian and military safety of Europe and the current and future geopolitical situation.
Investments in defence
Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamish, who took part on the first day of the meeting, spoke about the European Commission's programme ReArm Europe, the plan European Union reinforcements. He recalled that ‘ReArm Europe’ provides for additional resources for community defence expenditure. However, the head of the MON warned that the beneficiaries of this programme could not only be large Western European companies but besides the EU's "new" state and our allies from the east flank.
Kosiniak-Kamysz pointed out that Poland is the leader in safety spending – as the only 1 in the Alliance we have exceeded 4% of GDP, and this year we will allocate 4.7 percent of GDP. Furthermore, as he pointed out, the government decided to shift PLN 26 billion from the National Reconstruction Programme to the safety and Defence Fund. – This shows that strategy for safe Poland, building Eastern Shields, buying drone and anti-drone systems, building strength in alliances and utilizing funds from the European budget, is an absolute precedence for us – Kosiniak-Kamish said.
The government is besides working on adapting the law to improve the implementation of key safety investments. Under these activities, the Ammunition Production Act has been prepared, and shortly a draft Act on key and strategical investments in the arms manufacture will be submitted to Parliament, which will shorten the investment process even 3 times, peculiarly in terms of obtaining administrative decisions: environmental and architectural decisions.
Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamish besides mentioned the request to defend the Baltic Sea and the Polish operation launched last week, which protects our airspace on the Baltic. “There are 3 pillars of security: a strong society, a strong army and strong alliances, there is no another way,” said Kosiniak-Kamish.
Digital War
– safety is related to technology, and the future conflict will not start with raids, but with actions in cyberspace and we must be prepared for that – said Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digitalism. As he calculated, it is essential to make artificial intelligence, communication platforms, quantum computers, as well as another technological areas. The Minister of Digitalism indicated that Poland is 1 of the countries most attacked in cyberspace in the EU. – In 2024, more than 600 000 specified incidents were reported, more than 100 000 required a consequence from the services. This means an increase of 60 percent compared to the erstwhile year," Gawłowski said.
The Polish cybersecurity sphere – as the head of the digital ministry said – is not only attacked by Russia, but besides infiltrated, which is connected with disinformation activities and attacks on critical infrastructure. “Our goal is to counter these attacks, our cyber shield is 1 of the strongest in the world,” said Krzysztof Gawkowski. “Poland knows how to defend itself in cyberspace, but if it needs to act offensively,” he added.
During the inauguration of the conference Jakub Jaworowski, Minister of State Assets, besides spoke about Polish arms projects and purchases as part of the modernization of the army. He besides stressed the necessity manufacture of multicaliber ammunition in Poland. – Thanks to the ammunition bill, PLN 3 billion was transferred to ammunition production. PGZ companies are expanding their possible in this area and I am certain that within 2–3 years we are able to full colonize the production of ammunition – Jaworowski assessed.
General Wiesław Kukuła, Head of the General Staff of the Polish Academy of Sciences, besides spoke about the expenditure on arms. “We carry out the biggest transformation in the armed forces in history. It is possible thanks to ensuring financing of more than 4% of GDP," said Gen. Kukuła. – The aim of this modernization is to build ready, strong and deadly troops. Together with another NATO forces, we prosecute a policy of deterrence and defence and of preventing the outbreak of armed conflict," said the head of the SGWP.
Setting up Europe
Immediately after the beginning speeches, a discussion panel was held on the ReArm Europe programme as an chance for EU arms independence. "The ReArm Europe programme is simply a good signal that yet Europe has woken up and started investing in its defence capabilities," Kosiniak-Kamish said. He stressed that these measures must go to all European countries, without favouring any of them. The Deputy Prime Minister argued that Poland should aim to make joint consortia that will cooperate in the area of purchases of military equipment. “There must besides be a place for Polish companies, so our precedence should be to make joint purchasing consortia and to indicate the equipment we want to buy together for the needs of the armed forces”, he stressed. The Deputy Prime Minister admitted that this is not always easy, but Poland will look for partners among the Baltic countries, but besides from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Romania. The head of the MON besides has large hope for cooperation between the east NATO flank and the Nordic countries and Finland.
– We are 1 of the EU countries that spend the most on arms, we invest in the arms industry, so we have a chance to push our projects and benefit from EU funds – the head of the MON recalled. He added that a good example of Polish products, which can gain designation in global markets, are, among others, the anti-aircraft rocket set Piorun, the Baobab miner car, as well as Badgerwhich, in his opinion, may become our export product, if capacity for production is increased.
The debate was besides attended by Ivan Anušić, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence of Croatia. The politician reported that the Croatian government has increased the backing of the armed forces in fresh years and will spend 3% of GDP on this mark by 2030. This appropriation will be utilized to modernise the army, including the acquisition of Rafale aircraft from France, Bayraktar drones from Turkey, and to build air defence capabilities in cooperation with the United States. “I would like Croatia to make the arms manufacture and production capacity and to draw on Polish experience in this regard,” said the minister. – Poland is an excellent ally and partner. This is an example of a country that has clear objectives, strategies and programs for security," said Anušić. He besides hoped that the ReArm Europe task would not be hampered by excessive EU bureaucracy and would give a chance for real improvement of European arms industries.
On the another hand, Dovilė Šakalienėm, Minister of Defence of Lithuania, called for Europe to adopt all security-support solutions on the continent as shortly as possible. “We request the fastest possible action, the improvement of the European arms manufacture and effective cooperation between defence industries,” said the Minister. In her view, more standardisation of arms among European countries is besides necessary. – Our armed forces must act together, act rapidly and we should have compatible weapons – she argued.
She besides talked about the defence priorities of Lithuania, including strengthening the capabilities of national industry, developing defence technology and plans to rise defence spending to 5-5.5% of GDP from next year.
At the end of the debate, Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that the Polish military presence in the allied countries is simply a proof of our commitment to the safety of the east flank of NATO and this should be our argument in negotiations with the European Union.
