Poland should increase military spending: president

Duda told Poland’s wSieci weekly in an interview: "I recently said at a General Staff briefing that we must strive to further increase spending on the army, even above the 2% of GDP that we have committed to” as part of NATO.

Duda added: "We need to rapidly modernise the army, buy equipment, have very well-trained people.” He stressed that security was a "priority" for him.

Asked about the condition of the Polish military, Duda said "the starting point was very difficult” for the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party which came to power in late 2015, because the previous government led by the Civic Platform (PO) left the army in a “bad state.”

The army "has to be rebuilt, including in terms of numbers," he added.

(pk)

Source: PAP