Polish army must have sufficient deterrent power says PM

Poland's army must be strong enough to deter potential attacks, Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish prime minister said on Sunday.

Morawiecki made the statement as he and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak met with participants in the "Train with Nato" project at the 1st Warsaw Armoured Brigade site in Warsaw's district of Wesola.

The project is a special edition of military training for civilians marking the 24th anniversary of Poland joining Nato.

"Poland is part of Nato, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world. That is why we are safe," Morawiecki said.

He added that exercises under the "Train with Nato" project are organised by those who took part in military missions.

"It is during these military missions that not only soldiers get to know each other, gain experience, interact with modern equipment from other armies, work on the interoperability of equipment, but also various concepts and strategies for defence for the future are born there," Morawiecki said.

He argued that Poland must have an army so strong that it has "sufficient deterrent power."

"Building a strong army begins with strong public finances. It is from the Polish budget that we finance the Polish army today, purchases abroad, and recapitalisation of our Polish armaments plants," Morawiecki said.

"We will strengthen the Polish army because we are convinced of this strategy. It must be so strong that it will never have to be used." he added.

Mariusz Blaszczak, defence minister, said that "Poland is safe" owing to the fact that the Polish Army is being strengthened, equipped with modern weapons, new military units are being established, and Polish troop numbers are growing 

"Poland is also strong in alliances, as evidenced by the presence of American, British, Romanian and Croatian soldiers on Polish soil. But also the presence of Polish soldiers in Romania or Latvia," he added.

In March 2022, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a new Homeland Defence law to increase the size of the Polish army to 300,000 and to raise defence spending to at least 3 percent of GDP in 2023.

In late January, 2023 Morawiecki said that Poland plan to spend as much as 4 percent of its GDP on defence this year which may be the most ambitious among all Nato member states.