On Monday 11 March, before flying to the US, President Andrzej Duda convened the National Security Council, at which he announced that during his visit to the US, his meeting with the NATO Secretary General in Brussels and his talks with allies, he would propose that the Alliance countries should decide to spend 3 % of GDP on defence, rather than 2 % as before.

“I believe that we should make such a demand and I want to propose it in the nearest future – now during our visit to the White House and I will talk about it with all our other allies, also with the Secretary General of NATO at the Alliance Headquarters- so that the NATO countries decide together that the requirement of the Alliance will be spending not 2 %, but 3 % of GDP on defence. This will be the limit below which it will be absolutely not recommended to descend”, said Andrzej Duda, opening the meeting of the National Security Council.

The President stressed that there must be a clear and bold response to Russian aggression. This response will be to increase the military potential of the North Atlantic Alliance. “Someone will say: this is reactivity. Yes, because the North Atlantic Alliance is a defence alliance, and defence means that if someone threatens us, we react, so today there is a need to realise this strengthening”, he said.

“The entire Polish political scene is coming together to show that we are united in matters of our country’s security”, stressed Polish President Andrzej Duda, who believes that the time has come to prepare a new National Security Strategy for Poland.

Andrzej Duda thanked Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz for his expressed will to work on a new National Security Strategy. “I am very happy about this; it is very important. We are starting to work on the guidelines in this area”, he said, recalling that the previous Strategy dates to 2020.

Adrian Andrzejewski