Ladies and Gentlemen, today, 4th of April is the anniversary of an extremely important, historical, symbolic, but very significant event that took place 75 years ago. Namely, in Washington, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was signed, i.e. the North Atlantic Alliance was established, NATO was established: today, absolutely the world's largest defense alliance of democratic countries, Western countries, to which - also on our anniversary this year - Poland has been a member for 25 years.
Precedent of the Republic of Poland - Andrzej Duda, photo KPRP
I emphasize this very strongly because - as we often say - today, unfortunately, we live in very difficult times, when the great value of that agreement from 75 years ago is particularly visible, how extremely important it was that we, having liberated ourselves from from Soviet influence, having broken out from behind the Iron Curtain, from the Soviet sphere of influence, we also joined this great agreement of Western countries, military agreement. It happened happily. Thanks to the decisive attitude of Polish politicians and representatives of the anti-communist opposition, we became part of this agreement in 1999, 25 years ago.
There, together with the President of the United States, we celebrated the anniversary of this event. On this occasion, I also had meetings in Congress - both with representatives of the Senate and the House of Representatives. This is a very important moment for us.
But as I emphasize: our presence in the North Atlantic Alliance is especially important for us today, in times when - unfortunately - Russian imperialism has been reborn, when we all know perfectly well what has been happening since 24th of February 2022 in Ukraine: full-scale Russian aggression in Ukraine , an ongoing war that actually started in 2014, when Russia began occupying Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. But Russia committed full-scale aggression, open aggression, more than two years ago. And since then this war has been going on.
And Russia is threatening and - unfortunately - Russia is getting stronger, expanding its military potential, today it spends practically one third of its GDP on defense, it has switched its economy to war mode, it is building a large army, creating new divisions and, without a doubt, today it poses a great threat to the free world . Visible so clearly in Ukraine, but - unfortunately - also echoed in the statements of many of today's most important Russian politicians and commanders.
Therefore, I have no doubt that the North Atlantic Alliance and the countries of the free world must respond to this. Not only by supporting Ukraine in its war effort, not only by preventing Russia from winning in Ukraine. Russia cannot win the war in Ukraine.
Today, this is the most important task of the free world - to support Ukraine in this regard, primarily financially and militarily. But today, the free world should also strengthen its security and defense.
The times of peace are over, when everyone believed that there would be no more war, when there were even moments when it was questioned whether armies were still needed. Unfortunately, current times show that they are very much needed. And not only armies in general, but above all armies that are excellently equipped, armies with modern weapons, armies that have the most modern technological capabilities.
And I must say that I am pleased to see that we are building such an army in Poland. This is the modernization of the Polish army that is progressing. Today we spend over 4% on defense. our GDP. This includes not only the maintenance of the army, but above all, its modernization.
We have huge purchases of equipment made in the United States, starting from the latest generation F-35 fighters, ending with Abrams tanks, which - once ordered - are now slowly arriving in our country. Our pilots are already practicing on F-35 aircraft in the United States. Soon they will have a Polish fleet of these planes, manufactured especially for us, which will be in our country within two years. Today, ladies and gentlemen, we also make purchases from other directions. We also make purchases from South Korea, we are strengthening our defense potential.
But the Alliance must strengthen as a whole. Not only the United States, not only Great Britain, not only France - the largest armies of the Alliance today - should have a powerful army, but all other countries should implement a clear and transparent policy of strengthening security. Because NATO security is collective security.
There is an article 5, which says that in the event of an attack on any NATO member, we will defend the entire NATO area collectively, all together. In fact, we all need to have well-equipped, well-functioning armies.
Therefore, before leaving for the United States a month ago, I put forward a proposal that the level of minimum defense spending in the North Atlantic Alliance countries be raised from 2%, which we decided on in 2014, to 3%.
That is, the minimum level of expenditure should be 3%. I submitted this proposal before leaving for the United States also to talk about it immediately there, in Washington, both with the President of the United States and with representatives of Congress.
It is very gratifying to me that this proposal has received a good response in the United States. In Congress - both in the Senate and the House of Representatives - this proposal was received with great attention and great interest. In fact, I can confidently say that I was immediately proven right that this is indeed needed today. Similarly, it was not denied during the talks at the White House.
And - which is also a satisfaction for me - a number of politicians from NATO countries have already expressed their approval of this proposal; we had a whole series of such statements. This is particularly understood by the countries here, from our area, from the eastern flank of NATO, which on a daily basis are de facto witnesses of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the brutality that Russia demonstrates in Ukraine.
Since - as I said - today is the 75th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, i.e. the establishment of NATO, I have decided, ladies and gentlemen, to send a letter to all leaders of NATO countries, and, of course, to the Secretary General of NATO, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg. This proposal expressis verbis formulated a justification why this increase in defense spending today and the establishment of this 3% threshold. GDP in the North Atlantic Alliance countries is justified.
Russia with its aggressive policy, Russia with its reconstruction of Russian imperialism, Russia with its aggression against Ukraine has clearly and clearly shown that - unfortunately - its policy is returning to the times of the Cold War, to the times when the Soviet Union pursued aggressive policy towards other countries, imperial policy; that Russia is returning to these ambitions and should receive the same response as it received then. Back then, NATO countries spent 3% for your defense. We should get back to that level today.
This letter of mine opens a discussion on this topic, at the same time containing a clear indication that we should debate this topic during the upcoming NATO summit in Washington - this jubilee summit on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO. This will definitely be a long debate.
It will not last one or two meetings, because we need to reach a consensus on this matter. But I believe that such a decision will be made. I chose the letter because I consider it good practice.
As you may remember, immediately after the Russian attack on Ukraine, I sent a letter to the European Commission, to the President of the European Commission, specifically regarding Ukraine, regarding the opening of Ukraine's accession process to the European Union, because these two elements are extremely needed by Ukraine today. This means: joining the European Union as part of full membership and joining the North Atlantic Alliance in the future. And although there were many who then doubted whether it was even possible to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for the European Union in the near future, this letter contained this proposal and a call for Ukraine to be granted this status then. And within a few months it became a fact.
I assume that today, when I am sending another letter to the leaders of NATO countries - this time regarding spending at the level of 3%. GDP – it will really spark a serious discussion on this issue and we will be able to make such decisions. Because today, unfortunately, they are decisions that are absolutely justified in the face of Russian imperialism, in the face of Russia's expansion of its military potential, and in the face of Russia's creation of further divisions. Russia is most likely aiming for 50 divisions, the same number it had during the Cold War. This must be met with a decisive, calm response from NATO. This calm response is to strengthen our security.
We are building our military potential so that we do not have to fight. We are building our military potential so that no one will dare to attack us.
This is the main idea and I deeply believe that spending appropriate money on defense, which will enable us to strengthen our military potential with the most modern equipment, will be sufficient to maintain peace and ensure that no one dares to attack any of the NATO countries, because this is why we are in the Alliance, among other things, to have such a guarantee.
This is very important to us today. Poles want to have peace and quiet. Poles want and deserve security after years of being in the Russian sphere of influence. Today we are not only culturally, but also politically part of the West. We want to remain so, we want to develop peacefully, we want to build our prosperity and our future here. For this, a strong North Atlantic Alliance is necessary.
Therefore, I call on everyone to provide this strength to the North Atlantic Alliance by increasing its military potential, i.e. increasing spending to 3%.
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