Defence Policy
Polish Sejm Approves the 2024 Budget: Record Spending for Defence
Photo. 18th Mechanized Division
The Polish Sejm (lower house of the bicameral Polish Parliament) has adopted the 2024 Budgetary Act. 240 MPs voted in favour, 191 against, and three abstained. Now the Budgetary Act would be processed by the Senate - assembling on 24th and 25th January. The Budgetary Act must be submitted for Presidential approval before 29th January.
The planned state income is PLN 682.4 bn., with almost 866.4 bn. zlotys of planned spending and the deficit is not expected to go beyond PLN 184 bn.
Defence expenditure level planned exceeds PLN 118 bn., or ca. USD 29 bn, translating into 3.1% of GDP. The contribution of the defence spending to the GDP, including the outside-the-budget financing is to reach 4.2% (approx. PLN 158 bn).
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„This is a budget for the Poles”, Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański said, before the voting. He also pointed to pay raises for the teachers, and the budget sector, and also to more funds allocated to healthcare, and national defence. He added that the budget makes the election promises made by the coalition tangible. „In the upcoming months we would be, matter, after matter, addressing what we have committed to”, Domański assured.
„All good things in this budget have been inherited from us”, former PM and deputy President of PiS Mateusz Morawiecki said, after the vote. He was asking about the implementation of the matters outlined in the „100 specifics in 100 days” programme, including the increase of the tax-free amount, and 0% mortgage for the purchase of the first apartment.
PM Donald Tusk assured that he is not worried about actions that President Andrzej Duda may take, following the adoption of the budgetary act. As he told the journalists at the Parliament, the President „declared a complete cooperation, stating he would not resort to veto or obstruction, just because he comes from another political group”. Tusk said that „maneuvers” like submission of budget to the Constitutional Court may only be viewed as a kind of a political manifesto, and nothing more („Gazeta Wyborcza” daily suggested that Jarosław Kaczyński supposedly was pushing Duda in that direction).
This week the Sejm also adopted the Budget-related Act, envisaging a 20% pay increase in the state sector, and that includes salaries for soldiers.