Armed Forces
2% GDP for the Armed Forces
Satelita Kestrel Eye . Fot. US Army
Two percent of GDP for the defence sector from the next year and increase from 20 to 25 % of expenditure on modernisation – these are the most significant assumptions of the Bill that has been submitted to the Sejm by the Law and Justice Party (PiS). The party is also planning to submit another Bill regarding the increase in the number of the National Reserve Forces in the near future.
The deputy chairman of the National Defence Committee Marek Kaminski from the PiS party, considered the functioning of the National Reserve Forces as the worst failure in the programme of professionalization of army. According to him, a thorough reform needs to be performed to enable the increase in the army reserve even up to 60 thousand people (temporarily, doubling of the present 10 thousand soldiers of the National Reserve Forces is considered). The PiS deputy believes that paramilitary organizations and uniformed classes should be used within that scope.
Funds that are necessary for that purpose are to come from the increase in the Polish expenditure on defence up to 2%, that is about 800 million PLN. According to the PiS party, the resources should come from the reduction of administration, in particular the government one, which has been increased in the last few years by 70 thousand people. The increase in the expenditure on army is to be used not only to enlarge the reserve forces.
The Bill also includes the proposal to increase the expenditure on the armed forces modernization from 20% to 25%. This will result not only in the growth of the armed forces capabilities, but also in the economic recovery by the increase in the number of contracts for the national defence industry works.
The Law and Justice Party expects that the Bill will be subject to debate at the next sitting of the Sejm and it will win support of both the opposition and coalition. In that matter, Kaminski has also invoked the support of the President and the National Security Bureau – the advocates of the increase in the resources for the defence of Poland.