In reaction to Russia’s actions against Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda stated on Monday that NATO members should raise their defense budgets to three percent of GDP.
While Poland already spends about 4 percent of GDP on defense, the Western Defense Alliance’s current spending target is 2 percent.
“I want to propose in the near future… that NATO members decide together that the alliance requirement will be to spend not 2 percent, but 3 percent of GDP on defence,” Duda told reporters.
“That will be the threshold below which it will absolutely not be recommended to go,” he added ahead of visits to Washington and Brussels.
On Tuesday, Duda and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will meet with US President Joe Biden to mark 25 years since Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined NATO.
Duda said NATO must give a “clear and courageous response to Russian aggression”.
“This response will consist of increasing the military capacity of the North Atlantic Alliance,” he added.
NATO stands for “defence alliance, and defence means that if someone threatens us, we react.”
Duda referred to his plan as “the best response to today’s threats to international security” in a different video address to the people.
In addition, he wrote an opinion piece on the subject that the Washington Post released on Monday.
