Poland supports Donald Trump's demand to increase defense spending for NATO countries to 5% of GDP, even if it takes 10 years for some lagging members of the alliance. This was reported by the Financial Times with reference to Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh, UNN reports.
Details
Kosinyak-Kamysh noted that his country could become a transatlantic bridge between this goal and its realization in Europe.
According to the Minister of Defense, Poland is the NATO country that is closest to reaching the new defense spending target, as it allocated 4.7% of GDP to defense in 2024, the highest figure among members of the US-led military alliance.
Before returning to the White House this month, Trump increased pressure on NATO members to increase military spending, as only 23 of 32 NATO countries currently meet the requirement of spending 2% of GDP on defense, with Italy and Spain falling below this limit.
Kosiniak-Kamysh said the new goal is an important signal for the alliance. He believes that it will take another decade to reach this goal, but emphasized that Trump should not be criticized for being ambitious with this goal, as otherwise some countries will continue to argue whether more spending is really necessary.
After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland doubled its defense spending and purchased billions of dollars in weapons, mostly from the United States and South Korea.
The Minister of Defense emphasized that the Polish government had no other choice because of its geographical proximity to Russia.
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Italy, whose Prime Minister, Georgia Maloni, has strong political ties to the incoming Trump administration, is far behind NATO's goal. Its government recognizes the need to increase defense spending, but faces a debt burden and the need to limit public spending. Rome has called on other EU capitals to exclude military spending from government deficit calculations, but this call has been rejected.
Spain ranks last in terms of defense spending, allocating 1.28% of GDP in 2024, according to NATO. To avoid criticism, the government emphasizes that its army is actively involved in NATO peacekeeping missions, but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's promise to reach 2% by 2029 seems insufficient. The cautiousness in increasing spending is due to the country's pacifist attitudes, which stem from its history of military dictatorship.
Poland wants to use its six-month EU presidency, which began on January 1, to convince other member states to spend €100 billion of the next joint budget on defense. Negotiations on the seven-year budget, which begin this year, will be crucial.
Last year, the European Commission proposed a €1.5 billion program for the defense industry, which Kosiniak-Kamysh considers to be clearly insufficient.
The minister said that the EU has the ability to reallocate funds, adding that his "priority" is to secure €100 billion for defense in the coming years, including redirecting unused funds from the €800 billion joint pandemic recovery fund that ends next year.
Kosiniak-Kamysh plans to present Poland's plans on Monday during a meeting in Warsaw with counterparts from Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. He noted that if they could afford to take out loans to recover from Covid, they should find the funds to protect themselves from war.
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Regarding the provision of Polish troops to Ukraine to secure a possible peace agreement, Kosiniak-Kamysh rejected this possibility, emphasizing that it should not be countries on Ukraine's border. He also pointed to the need for more NATO efforts to share the burden between the countries.
Although Poland is a reliable ally of Ukraine in the fight against Russia, relations between the two countries remain tense due to historical differences, cheap Ukrainian agricultural exports, and growing resentment among the Polish population toward Ukrainians who have moved to Poland.
The Minister admitted that Polish society is tired.
Another recent point of tension is Poland's refusal to supply Ukraine with its last MiG-29 aircraft, which Warsaw says is necessary for its own security.
Recall
Earlier , UNN wrote that Poland allocated almost 5% of its GDP to support Ukraine and help Ukrainian refugees, making it the leader among donor countries in terms of spending.