Polish president: NATO presence on eastern flank 'until 2022'
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
26.05.2017 09:10
NATO troops are likely to remain stationed on its eastern flank until 2022, Polish President Andrzej Duda has indicated at a summit of the military alliance in Brussels.
Polish President Andrzej Duda. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk
He said that alliance members confirmed their commitment to the Warsaw Summit agenda of continuing securing Central and Eastern Europe.
Duda said on Thursday that there were no objections from alliance member countries about the strengthening of NATO's eastern flank.
At the Warsaw summit last year, NATO members agreed to strengthen the eastern flank, including in Poland, in light of Russian aggression just beyond the borders of the European Union.
Duda said on Thursday that NATO allies had agreed to retain a presence in the Baltic region and Poland over the coming years.
Asked if this presence would continue after 2018, Duda said: “People are talking about 2022 rather than 2018… No one raised the issue of a pullout”.
He added that he did not think that there will be a decrease in “mutual support” and a “withdrawal of troops from the Baltic states, Poland and Romania”.
He added that plans and strategies to increase Poland's defence spending to 2.2 percent of GDP by 2020 and 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030 were presented to NATO and had been discussed with Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
(rg/pk)