We are looking at the summit in Washington from the point of view of Poland's security. In our opinion, it must be another step in strengthening our security," said president Andrzej Duda, who chaired the National safety Council gathering today. During the gathering in Belvedere, the Polish position was discussed before the NATO summit starting tomorrow.
The National safety Council met Monday morning. At the invitation of president Andrzej Duda to Belvedere, among others, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Piotr Zgorzelski, talker of the legislature of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, members of the government, representatives of political groups, Head of the BBC Jacek Siewara and Head of the General Staff of the Polish Army General General Wiesław Kukuła arrived. The intent of the gathering was to discuss the Polish position before the NATO summit in Washington, D.C. started on Tuesday.
“Poland speaks with 1 voice on security. The president of Poland has the same position as the government. There are no differences on the political stage. And this policy line must be maintained. These are the requirements of the citizens' minute and expectations," said president Andrzej Duda. erstwhile beginning the RCN meeting, Andrzej Duda stressed that safety is the most crucial thing today. "What is happening behind our east border, i.e. Russian aggression on Ukraine and hybrid force from the Belarusian regime, implemented against Poland and the European Union, creates a very circumstantial and very hard atmosphere and safety conditions. From this point of view, good allied cooperation and the implementation of allied plans is fundamental,” said the head of the armed forces.
Andrzej Duda said that representatives of the associate States in Washington will talk not only about Europe's security, but besides about what is happening in another parts of the world. – besides about the situation in Asia and concerns related to China and about the actions taken by the North Korean regime. We will participate in these discussions, due to the fact that the function of the Alliance is to guarantee security," said Duda. He assured that the Polish delegation would actively participate in these talks.
The president announced that Poland would search to strengthen the presence and readiness of the Alliance in our part of Europe, to full implement the provisions of the NATO summits in Madrid and Vilnius, and to fulfil the alleged regional plans, i.e. the anticipation of fast relocation of military forces in the event of a crisis. Among the precedence themes for the Washington Summit are also: improving and strengthening anti-aircraft and rocket defence in Europe, deploying Alliance arms warehouses and the anticipation of utilizing allied fuel reserves. Poland will besides convince to rise the level of defence spending. president Duda admitted that 23 countries presently spend more than 2% of GDP, but this is inactive not enough. – Today, in order to be able to respond to threats and to defend ourselves against any attack on Poland, we spend more than 4% on defence. This is what another allies should do. I will talk about it in Washington, Duda announced. "I believe that the Alliance states should return to the level of spending that was during the Cold War erstwhile the russian Union threatened Europe and the world. Now Russia is again threatening the war of Europe and the world. The consequence of the alliance states must be adequate – the president argued.
The subject of the gathering is besides expected to be the Natatian aspirations of Ukraine. “At the summit it is likely that we will not be able to get an authoritative invitation to NATO for Ukraine, as we sought, but among the allies there is awareness of the request for decisions indicating that the way to the Alliance for Ukraine is irreversible,” said Andrzej Duda.
After the RCN meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on social media: "There is nothing more crucial than the safety of Poland. We are ready to strengthen the Alliance and defend common values, as we will emphasise at the NATO summit in Washington. We talk with 1 voice on matters of safety of Poland".
The NATO summit will start in Washington on Tuesday. The gathering of the Heads of State and Government of 32 associate States of the Alliance, partner countries and the European Union will last until 11 July.
