Poland quickly rearms
On the political and diplomatic level, Poland is asserting itself, but this is also the case on the military level. The country is a member of NATO and as soon as Crimea was annexed by Russia, the Poles began their rearmament. It accelerated with the invasion of Ukraine. Unlike Western Europeans, due to its history Poland views the Russian threat much more seriously.
“The Poles fear being the next to be attacked if Ukraine ever falls” says Amélie Zima, doctor in political science, head of the European and transatlantic security program at IFRI. “So we have to protect ourselves and the problem is that Poland has already given a lot of equipment to Ukraine. There is a need on the one hand to replenish its stocks and on the other hand to increase its strength” specifies Amélie Zima.
Massive orders from the United States and South Korea.
In April 2022 just after the invasion of Ukraine, the Polish Parliament passed the Law on Defense of the Nation. It stipulates that Poland must spend a minimum of 3% of its GDP on defense. Currently, Poland has exceeded 4% of GDP for its defense. The NATO standard is 2%. This strategy took the form of massive arms purchases with orders from the United States (Patriot anti-missile defense systems, F35 aircraft, armored vehicles). Poland also obtains supplies from South Korea with almost a thousand ordered tanks and howitzers.
Finally, in terms of numbers, Poland has set itself very ambitious objectives. “We are talking about an army of 250,000 men. The figures provided, in particular by NATO, already indicate 216,000 men. If they maintain their objective, it will be the first land army in Europe” underlines Amélie Zima. For comparison, in 2023, the French Army had 119,766 active soldiers. Furthermore, Poland is also developing territorial defense and educating the population about the risk of conflict.
In this context, it is not surprising that the Polish EU presidency will be very focused on security. “Not only on the military aspects, but also food security, energy security or security of the supply of medicines. In Poland, we believe that the European Union is the appropriate institution to deal with these kinds of issues” explains Amélie Zima.
