The geopolitical situation after Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Its significance for stability and security in our part of Europe. The need to increase military spending. These issues received most of the attention at the panel ‘Peace and quiet is over. Poland at war' during the 33rd Economic Forum in Karpacz.
The panel, chaired by Bogumiła Berdychowska-Szostakowska, editor of the 'Więź' quarterly, featured Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, Jacek Siewiera, Secretary of State at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Head of the National Security Bureau, Alojzy Z. Nowak, rector of the University of Warsaw, Paweł Poncyljusz, president of Polska Amunicja, Rajmund Andrzejczak, former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (2018–2023), and Zbigniew Parafianowicz, journalist of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz presented the cornerstones of action which, as he said, may be unpopular, difficult, but are “the only effective protection for the Polish state, our future and the future of our children and grandchildren, as well as that of our allies against existing threats.” The daily situation on the Polish-Belarusian, Russian-Finnish, Russian-Belarusian-Lithuanian, or Belarusian-Latvian borders is the reason for this view, these actions and the ‘highest effort’.
“These three cornerstones represent an effective state combined with community and social resilience. In fact, it was these cornerstones that have helped Ukraine survive and win the first phases of the war. After all, the failure to capture Kyiv was a defeat for Russia. This happened by building Ukraine's social resilience. Before that, the country had been badly divided, and the east had not communicated with the west. The question remains on how the situation is going to develop,” explained Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
“The development of these cornerstones in Poland requires the partnership of politicians, something unpopular. This is because today politicians who propose such partnerships are in the centre and you are criticised from both sides of the political spectrum. However, I believe that this is the way it has to be. So far the partnership has been successful, as shown for example by the fact that the President, the Prime Minister and myself gave speeches on the Polish Army Day. These speeches all pointed in the same direction. The common denominator is security, which was not obvious after the government change,” stressed the Deputy Prime Minister.
