Coordinating and summarising briefing of senior officers of Ministry of National Defence and Polish Armed Forces. - News - National Security Bureau

08.03.2010

Coordinating and summarising briefing of senior officers of Ministry of National Defence and Polish Armed Forces.

On Monday 8 March the Head of the Armed Forces, President Lech Kaczyński and Head of the National Security Bureau participated in yearly briefing of senior officers of the Ministry of National Defence and Polish Armed Forces.

 

During a short interview President Kaczynski said that as the Head of the Armed Forces he must bring up few subjects. As he told the journalists, that included NATO status among others. – This is strategic issue; currently there is a debate going on in NATO. Poland should insist that the North Atlantic Treaty remains political and defence alliance – said the President. – Expedition missions, political tasks are important but defence against aggression is currently of basic and historical importance. – He added.
 
Lech Kaczynski stated that he also brought up issues that concern number of army personnel, army expenses, problem of so called military pensions as well as the problem of Polish Navy and Air Forces. He noticed that during his 30 minutes speech he briefly discussed those matters and at the end said that he hopes that the subject would be elaborated within the framework of debates concerning problems of Polish Armed Forces, their development and our country’s needs, which includes the security issue.
 
Head of the National Security Bureau, Mr. Aleksander Szczyglo described the suggestions of equalling rules applying to military pensions with those governing other uniformed services as risky. In his opinion such approach proves that the government values more opinion polls and acclaim than army’s interest.
 
Minister Szczyglo expressed his concern about the possibility of potential wrong interpretation of the provisions regarding the number of troops and the amount of outlays for the defence purposes.
 
The meeting that took place in the Polish Army Conference Centre was hosted by the Minister of National Defence, Mr. Bogdan Klich. Other participants included also representatives of the Parliament, state and army authorities.