Poland’s budget for 2025 includes record military spending of $48.7 billion, officials said Wednesday, as the Ukraine war continues to ramp security concerns across Europe.
Poland is already NATO’s biggest defence spender, with plans to outlay 4.1 percent of GDP in 2024. However, the Polish government is considering increasing the defence budget again by 0.6 percentage points further next year,
AP reports Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said the unprecedented defence spending proposal would constitute 4.7 percent of gross domestic product, compared to 4.1 percent this year, and follows calls made by former President Donald Trump for NATO members to spend more on defense and rely less on the U.S. to come to their aid.
The current proposal would break the previous defense spending record of $41.5 billion in the 2024 budget and help make Poland more self sufficient as it works to secure its borders.
The move to increase defence spending follows Poland’s President Andrej Duda saying the country is in talks with the U.S. about having American nuclear weapons stationed in the country to deter Russian aggression, as Breitbart News reported.
A top Polish NATO general previously noted getting the weapons is “important” to prevent the country becoming a vulnerable buffer that could be “sacrificed” by Washington to keep the peace with Moscow.
The AP report notes Poland, which supports Ukraine’s struggle against Russia’s full-scale invasion, is making large purchases of military equipment, including fighters jets, tanks and missile defense systems from the U.S. and South Korea.
Some $1.2 billion has also been earmarked toward the construction of Poland’s first nuclear plant, which is expected to be operational in northern Poland in 2035.
Poland is working to cut its dependence on energy sources coming from Russia, like gas and oil.
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