The regional situation prompts Poland to invest heavily in defense and security, Polish Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Tomasz Kobzdej, said in an interview with IPN News Agency. According to the diplomat, Poland is a champion among the NATO member states in terms of military expenditure as the authorities in Warsaw allocate 4% of the GDP in this regard.
A member state of the European Union since May 2004, Poland has boosted its economic development, becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world. Poland’s Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova said that his country develops its economy and invests massively in its defense potential. According to the diplomat, the war in Ukraine and the security crisis in the region made Poland to modernize its entire military arsenal.
“The GDP places us among the top 20 largest economies in the world. We have a GDP of €14,700 per capita. The figures sound good, but we are ambitious and we know that there is room for improvement. If we refer to the military potential, Poland is a champion among the NATO member states. We are champions in terms of defense spending. Over 4% of GDP is allocated to the defense sector. And it’s not just about the amounts of money, but also about how this money is spent. Poland has massively modernized its armed forces. We have many new tanks, new planes. We have new antimissile systems. And this happens not because we seek to be part of any competition. It is a necessity that we see in the context of the geopolitical situation in the region. Poland maintains its armed forces at the level of 200,000 people. This is our personnel. We make effort to be well-armed. Obviously, we also seek to develop our economy. Otherwise, we could experience big problems because of our geographic location,” stated Ambassador Tomasz Kobzdej.
The Polish diplomat explained that a small country like the Republic of Moldova can more easily join the European Union. This is the main lesson of the European Union’s enlargement in 2004, when the number of member states increased from 15 to 25, and the small countries negotiated accession more easily than large countries.
“The small size of the Republic of Moldova can be a great advantage in the accession negotiations with the European Union. It is much easier to integrate a small country with a small economy into the single market and harmonize all its legislation with the European legislation than in the case of a large country. You should know that this was also the lesson that the EU learned from the Big Bang, that is from the great wave of enlargement that involved Poland as well,” said the diplomat.
The interview with Poland’s Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Tomasz Kobzdej, was conducted by IPN News Agency as part of the project “Developing Political Culture Through Public Debates”, which is supported by the German “Hanns Seidel” Foundation.
