Earlier this month, a scandal was caused by the publication by journalists from TV Republika of a letter from the General Staff of the Polish Army, in response to an earlier statement by the Ministry of Finance, which contained proposals for serious cuts in arms procurement spending. It was a proposal to reduce spending in the Central Materiel Plans by over PLN 57 billion in 2025-2028, i.e. by as much as 25% over the next four years, by almost PLN 5 billion in 2025 and over PLN 6.5 billion in 2026, by PLN 18 billion in 2027 and by over PLN 28 billion in 2028. The Chief of the General Staff, General Wiesław Kukuła, strongly opposed these cuts, writing in his justification that this would mean serious disruptions to the Armed Forces’ modernization program. The General Staff wrote, among other things, about the impossibility of implementing operational programs and the package for strengthening the armed forces, the impossibility of implementing the “Szpej” project, i.e. individual equipment for soldiers, the impossibility of implementing in the long term “National Ammunition Reserve” program, difficulties in securing the allied presence on the territory of the Republic of Poland, and even the impossibility of implementing the so-called recently announced by Prime Minister Tusk. Shield East.
After a “storm” in the media caused by the revelation of these attempts to significantly cut military spending, President Andrzej Duda, the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, spoke and announced that he had spoken about this with the Minister of Defense, Deputy Minister of Defense. Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. The head of the Ministry of Defense told the president that he would not agree to such cuts in military spending. “If these cuts were to happen, it means for him that he would have to leave.” The president also added that Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz said “that he absolutely will not keep this position in such a situation, that it is impossible, that defense spending absolutely cannot decrease.”
Although the storm over cuts in the modernization of the Polish army in 2025-2028 has been averted for some time after this statement by the Minister of Defense, information is constantly appearing on social media that the Ministry of Finance is signing procurement contracts for military equipment. Therefore, everything indicates that this year’s defense budget will not be fully utilized, as will the funds allocated for this year in the extrabudgetary Armed Forces Support Fund. Let us not forget that the planned budget for defense spending this year was about PLN 118 billion, and spending on the FWSZ amounted to PLN 51 billion, while about PLN 10 billion of the Fund’s spending was supposed to come from the budget of the Ministry of Defense. In total, PLN 159 billion was supposed to be spent on national defense this year, i.e. about 4.1% of GDP, although after the first half of the year it should be clearly stated that spending is at serious risk.
Moreover, despite the conclusion of the so-called framework agreements for the purchase of the most modern equipment by Minister Mariusz Błaszczak from July to December 2022, no executive agreements have been signed so far for the purchase of Korean 212 K9 gun howitzers and 640 K2 tanks with the launch of their production in Poland, 152 Krab gun howitzers with factories in Stalowa Wola, as well as 486 American Himars launchers and 96 Apache helicopters. In its analysis of the implementation of the defense budget for 2023, the Supreme Audit Office questioned the release of advances for the implementation of arms contracts, which means that there will be serious problems in the implementation of orders, especially in Polish arms factories. In fact, the current leadership of the Ministry of Defense and coalition MPs in the Defense Committee agree with this statement of the Supreme Audit Office, which means that such an instrument will no longer be used in the implementation of this year’s procurement budget. Therefore, it seems that despite the planned defense spending of 4.1% of GDP, this budget may not be met, even though numerous contracts with defense companies from Poland and abroad have been waiting to be signed for more than a year.
In fact, Tusk’s government used similar “tricks” to reduce military spending in 2008-2014, when, despite a modest national defense budget, it managed to save about PLN 10 billion from this expenditure. But if the coalition of Platform, Ruch Hołownia, PSL and Left continues to govern, cuts in national defense spending from 2025 onwards seem inevitable, especially after the European Commission’s announcement to launch the excessive deficit procedure against Poland.
Source: wPolityce