– European countries should reach the level of three percent of GDP when it comes to defense spending – said the Civic Coalition's candidate for president, Rafał Trzaskowski, in an interview with journalists. – This is a very important diplomatic game for us. The European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance should understand that countries must spend more, he argued.
Trzaskowski, as the mayor of Warsaw, took part in a meeting of the Committee of the Regions, an EU advisory body that brings together regional authorities. He also met with EU defense commissioners Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania) and for the EU budget Piotr Serafin (Poland).
– These commissioners know how important security is today because they come from countries that meet the conditions (membership in… NATO – ed.) and spending significant sums on defense – he said.
“A very important game”
KO's presidential candidate stated that he had already said in Gliwice that “Poland should reach 5% of GDP in 2026 (armament spending – ed.).”
– This is a very important diplomatic game for us. European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance should understand that European countries must spend more money on defense. This 2 percent ceiling is definitely not enough. European countries should reach 3 percent, said Trzaskowski.
He stated that “these are the requirements of the geopolitical situation today, also after the change of president in the United States.” – Donald Trump he has been saying for many, many years that he will assess European capabilities and that Europe should take responsibility for itself, he pointed out.
He emphasized that at least half of the budget, assuming an increase in military spending to 5 percent. GDP“should be issued in Poland and should be invested in our defense industry.” – However, also that Europe should take responsibility for security issues. Countries such as Germanywhich only recently reached 2 percent, should have a much more ambitious security policy, he emphasized.
– From our point of view, part of these expenses, part of this process of strengthening defense capabilities, could be implemented by the European Union, and not necessarily in the European Union budget itself, the actual one, which, of course, also includes money for defense. Everyone here in Europe is considering some other mechanism, he said.
“We set standards as Poland”
He explained that the idea was for part of the defense expenditure incurred by European countries “to be better coordinated to develop the European defense industry.”
– We, of course, set standards here as Poland. We are already spending over 4.3 percent, and we should reach 5 percent. However, we must require our partners to do exactly the same, he argued.
– The issue of security is the most important thing for all of us at the moment and this pressure must be exerted on the European Union – he said. He said it was “good lobbying”. – As you know, I have been dealing with these issues for many, many years. (…) Let's hope that this will be reflected in European policy – he added.
Main photo source: PAP/Leszek Szymański