Beata Szydło’s Exposé: Polish National Security As The Priority

During her speech in front of the Parliament, prime minister Beata Szydło outlined the vision which is going to be pursued by the government, led by her. Her exposé began as follows: “Mr President, Speakers, MPs, my fellow citizens. I stand in front of you, as one of us, and I stand here in a unique situation – couple of days ago, we could have witnessed an act of terror in France.” New Polish PM, Beata Szydło, continued her inauguration speech - “I will take over the PM’s office in times, within which our world, based on freedom, democracy and tolerance, is more and more aggressively offended by those, who do not respect the right to be free, possessed by the others. We do not accept such vision” - as it was stated by Szydło. “Poles, as well as the other Europeans, are willing to gain security. Thus, we are going to show solidarity, and cooperate with the European states, in fight against the terrorism. At the same time, it is our priority to maintain the national security for our citizens. I repeat – for the Polish government, security for the Poles is of highest priority”.

Within the area of national security, PM Szydło announced that she is going to continue the line of foreign policy started by Lech Kaczynski, together with the Polish President – Andrzej Duda. In the eyes of the Prime Minister, the Polish diplomacy is going to have three goals: security, in classic understanding of that word – within the scope of development of the military, economic security, with a particular emphasis placed on the energy industry, and finally, the government is willing to get a proper position within the international arena. Security is going to be the main driving factor which is going to have an impact on modernization of the Polish Army. “Armament investments must be carried out in a way which is going to be beneficial for the Polish economy”. Szydło also noted that actions, the aim of which is to reinforce the NATO Eastern Flank are equally important, however, the programme shall be unidirectional and consistent. 

Economic policy has also been tied to the security provided by the military, since PM said that development of the economy is the main priority of the new government, particularly within the areas that may prospectively become important on the market in the future. Here, Szydło meant the energy, chemical and armament industries, along with the services sector, with a particular emphasis placed on the IT industry. PM Szydło stated that the Council of Ministers is willing to get back to the policy of “balancing the chances” across the regions of Poland: “We want Silesia to become the heart of the Polish industry, we want Łódź to blossom”.  

When she referred to education and the historic policy, PM Szydlo stated that amplifying the spirit of patriotism is very important. The state shall be the reason to be proud. Szydło also stated that Poland shall not be ashamed of building an ethos of national heroes. “State aid shall be provided in order to create pieces of art, telling Poles and the world the story of the most iconic fellow citizens and heroes”.

Issues related to refugees were also covered in the inauguration speech given by the new PM. The stance here is decisive - “We need to clearly sum up the issue of solidarity”. Szydło said though that “export of problems created by third states cannot be defined as European solidarity”.

PM Szydło noted that the nation should stand together, as the times are uncertain and dangerous, asking for substantial cooperation.