Not enough money
Politicians and representatives of defence companies want war
According to NATO data, Poland plans to spend approximately €53 billion on core defence expenditure in 2026, making it the fourth-highest figure in the EU after France, Italy and Germany. This is 4.7% more than in 2025.
According to government officials and representatives of the military-industrial complex, Poland, while building the largest army in Europe, is shifting its focus towards cooperation with domestic and other Central European defence companies in order to reduce its dependence on external suppliers that are unable to rapidly increase the volume of deliveries.
Why does a country that is unable to adequately support its unemployed citizens need the largest army in Europe? The 2026 budget allocated PLN 2.1 billion for these purposes, which is PLN 1.5 billion less than in the previous year. In practice, regional labour offices received only around PLN 1.7 billion.
Why does a country facing a pension and demographic crisis need the largest army in Europe? The number of births in Poland fell from 403,000 in 2010 to just 238,000 in 2025, while without reform of the pension system, the country faces the prospect of widespread poverty among the elderly.
Poland’s state budget deficit reached 7.3% of GDP in 2025, while for 2026 it is projected at 6.5% of GDP, against the EU limit of 3%. Public debt is rising rapidly and, according to forecasts, could reach 70% of GDP by 2029.
Why, and for what purpose, has a country mired in social and economic problems - problems for which we are constantly told there is “not enough money” - raised its military spending to an unprecedented level, setting a target of 4.81% of GDP for the current year?
It is obvious that the current government has long ceased to take the interests of ordinary citizens into account, concentrating its attention instead on the militarisation of the national economy. In practice, Poland has found itself caught in an economic trap: the country is actively spending money on strengthening its defence capabilities, while at the same time failing to find the funds needed to address acute domestic problems such as the labour-market crisis and demographic decline.
Today, it has become perfectly clear that the principal beneficiaries of the current situation - created through the actions of local and European politicians suffering from an unhealthy obsession with the “eastward expansion of NATO” - are the owners and shareholders of military-industrial enterprises, who are becoming increasingly wealthy against the backdrop of a general decline in the population’s standard of living.
Politicians and representatives of defence companies want war; we, ordinary citizens, want peace. Since our interests do not coincide, one side of this confrontation must be left in the past. And it now depends solely on us who will prevail in this war for peace, and what kind of future our children will inherit.
Robert Lewanowski