Poland Inches Into War Footing as It Allots 5% of 2025 GDP on Defense

By Jose Resurreccion

Jul 16, 2024 11:30 AM EDT

Polish soldiers on tanks take part in a military parade in Warsaw on Polish Army Day, August 15, 2023, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish-Soviet War.
(Photo : WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Poland announced over the weekend that it was planning to spend 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense by 2025.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Bloomberg Friday (July 12) that it is currently spending 4% of its GDP on defense and is seeking to maintain its status as the top NATO nation that is economically boosting its defense industry and spending.

Sikorski emphasized that defense spending is just one "yardstick" NATO should implement as cooperation between member nations should be another factor, just like Iceland allowing allied planes to refuel in its air bases and Poland sending troops to Afghanistan in the early 2000s to help with the United States.

According to Reuters, Polish military chief of staff Wieslaw Kukula told a press conference last week that the country needed to prepare its soldiers for all-out war.

Trump's Relation with NATO About Ukraine

Sikorski also said that US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was "right to insist" that the alliance should spend more on defense due to the volatile geopolitical tensions in Europe and beyond.

He added that Trump's pressure during his term as US President was one of two major factors that led to 23 of the 32 NATO members spending at least 2% of its GDP on defense, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 being the second.

It is understood that NATO would have to deal with Trump should he and vice-presidential candidate JD Vance win the US election in November. Trump could end the war in Ukraine if he gets inaugurated in January, while Vance has historically been opposed to the war in Ukraine.