A meeting of the National Security Council convened by President Andrzej Duda was held at the Belvedere. “I would like to thank you that so far the meetings have had an extremely substantive dimension of discussions on Poland’s security”, said the President, opening the session.

“We are living in a dangerous time and the security situation has not improved during this year. Today we have two main problems in our immediate surroundings: the ongoing war in Ukraine, which is the result of Russian aggression and the need to support Ukraine, and the crisis on the border with Belarus”, Andrzej Duda stressed.

As he added, “we also have a new political situation, cohabitation.

I have no doubt that, regardless of party colours, it is our duty to take care of the security of the Polish Republic, which means the security of all our citizens”, said the President.

Andrzej Duda stressed that in matters important for Poland he is open to cooperation and always tries to listen to different voices.

The President also recalled recent situations related to the war in Ukraine, which affected Poland’s security, including the appearance of a missile in Polish airspace.

“These situations led us to conclusions about the need to make modifications in the state’s system of responding to crisis situations, as well as in the system of directing and commanding the Polish armed forces”, he said. As he added, ‘our most important conclusion is a need to unify the command and control systems in wartime as well as in peacetime’.

„This led us to a proposal for the reinstatement of the command types of the armed forces, as well as the necessary modification of the command system. I have prepared, together with my colleagues, a special law on this issue as part of a presidential initiative”, the President pointed out and expressed the hope that he would deal with this project “in the near future”.

Adrian Andrzejewski