There is no Alliance without the US. We must spend more on defence, not to replace Americans in Europe, but to halt them here," stressed the Deputy Prime Minister, the national defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish, before leaving for the Hague today. In his opinion, the NATO summit that is beginning there present will confirm the strength of transatlantic relations.
Poland has been preparing for this summit for months. The head of the MON has no uncertainty that this will be 1 of the most crucial meetings of NATO leaders In history. First of all, due to the landmark decision on expenditure to be approved in The Hague. In 2014, associate States had to allocate at least 2% of GDP to defence. Now they are ready to rise this threshold to 5%. 3.5% will be utilized to buy weapons or upgrade troops. The remainder will finance infrastructure and cybersecurity projects. “What is important, we have been able to make a common position in terms of time to accomplish these capabilities. Initially it was referred to 2032, but yet it stood at 2035. We wanted associate States to indicate 2030, but, well, that is the cost of negotiations, stressed Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz. Only Spain broke from the common front, which argues that it prefers to spend less, but more effectively. Either way, the Madrid authorities will not block the final declaration. Doubts are to be settled during additional talks.
Meanwhile, the head of the Polish MON admits that any derogation in this substance is simply a bad signal. – Failure to comply with this provision as shortly as possible threatens the safety of the Alliance – he warned during the press conference.
Alone Poland already spends almost 5% on defence her GDP, which makes her a Nattarian evidence player. – 50% of this amount is spent on modernization and transformation of the army. It is besides the most of all the countries of the Alliance," the Deputy Prime Minister noted. Now Poles are pushing powerfully for another NATO countries to join the lead. This is crucial for 1 fundamental reason. The defence plans adopted by the Alliance concern not the individual army, but the full system. “As we will have the right skills, but others will be weak, NATO will be weak,” said the head of the MON.
The US administration has been pushing for a extremist increase in defence budgets by European countries for months. Now it seems that president Donald Trump may feel satisfaction. In fact, in fresh times, he has clearly softened the rhetoric he has reached for his European allies. The American army besides powerfully marked its presence during the European exercises. In my opinion, a very good signal will flow from the Hague. Doubts about the durability and operational capabilities of the Alliance, which were raised after the fresh American administration took office, will be dispelled. president Trump's presence alone shows that NATO remains a transatlantic alliance. And only specified an alliance makes sense in the face of what is happening in Ukraine and the mediate East. Cooperation between the USA and Europe with the leading function of Poland is an absolute necessity – the Deputy Prime Minister argued.
Defence spending will be the main theme, although, of course, it is not the only subject of the summit. The leaders of the associate States are besides to talk about military mobility, i.e. regulations that will make it easier for them to operate between countries. This will happen with the issue of pipelines for the transportation of natural materials to the east flank, yet – the retrofitting of institutions specified as the NATO-Ukraine Analysis, Training and Education Centre. – For us, it will besides be very crucial to safe Ukraine's mission of assistance. Logistics safety and protection of the transfer of equipment and humanitarian aid – said Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz. “I think we will announce good news here too,” he added.
The agenda of the summit did not include issues concerning the conflict in the mediate East. However, as the representatives of the Polish MON assure, this subject will surely appear on the margins of key discussions and in the spheres. "We had a gathering of the National safety Committee this morning. We analysed the situation of Polish military quotas in the mediate East – Kosiniak-Kamysz said. Poland presently has soldiers in Lebanon, Iraq or Jordan. That's 450 military total. – They're all safe. – assured the head of the MON. According to him, the Iranian attack on the U.S. base is not a reason to launch Article 5. He says the attack on 1 of the NATO states is tantamount to hitting the full Alliance. In this case, however, the impact occurred outside the Treaty territory. "We realize the U.S. arguments, even if Americans take drastic steps for the safety of their own citizens, as well as in the name of their safety strategy in the world," said Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamish. In a akin tone, the deputy chief of MON Paweł Zalewski spoke. – Poland advocates peace in the mediate East. And the country that opposed the peace was Iran," he said. due to the fact that the government in Tehran, as Deputy Minister Zalewski said, supported terrorist organizations – Hamas, Hezbollah, helped the Syrian dictator Assad regime, and regularly threatened Israel with annihilation.
NATO summit will last until Wednesday afternoon. Poland in The Hague, in addition to the Minister of National Defence, will besides be represented by the head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs Radosław Sikorski. president Andrzej Duda is at the head of the Polish delegation, who just before leaving for the Hague expressed hope that this summit would go back to past through the collective decision of the Allies to rise defence spending. The head of the armed forces besides asked Polish parliamentarians: "I call for my proposal to introduce into the Constitution a threshold of 4% of GDP as a minimum level of defence spending per year. Only the inclusion in the constitution will warrant a adequate majority so that this level of expenditure is not rapidly reduced due to any political perturbations that can always happen," Duda stressed.
