Poland Aims for 5% GDP Defence Spending by 2026
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland wants to spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence in 2026, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday after a European Union defence ministers meeting in Warsaw.
Galvanised by Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine three years ago, Poland now spends a higher proportion of GDP on defence than any other NATO member, including the United States. It plans for this year's spending to hit 4.7% of GDP.
During the summit, ministers discussed a "White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030," aimed at providing a framework for the ReArm Europe Plan and to outline a new defence strategy.
"All ministers... emphasized the importance of this document, the White Paper," Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.
"We must be ready for the most difficult scenarios and we must be strong enough to prevent war from breaking out... This is an action to make us so strong that it would not be profitable for any country to attack the European Union or NATO."
(Reporting by Barbara Erling; writing by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Alan Charlish, Alexandra Hudson)
