Andrzej Duda unveiled the new bill on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The president told a media briefing that the plan had already been submitted to parliament for consideration.
Meanwhile, his National Security Bureau (BBN) said on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, that “the bill on measures to be taken by state agencies in the event of an external threat to national security” was designed “to strengthen the country’s strategic potential to counteract hybrid threats, subliminal threats and direct military aggression.”
The plan “constitutes a response to changes in the security environment, including the escalation of new forms of threats posed by Russia and directed against Poland and other European Union and NATO countries,” according to officials.
The draft legislation "foresees changes in the state’s military and non-military aspects,” the BBN said.
Coordination in matters of national security
First, the bill seeks “to strengthen the resilience of the system governing national security” by boosting the coordination of steps, exchange of information and rapid response by top authorities, notably the president, the prime minister and parliamentary Speakers, and the commanders of the armed forces, according to the presidential office.
President Andrzej Duda. Photo: Office of the President of Poland
Defence planning
Second, the bill strengthens Poland’s defence planning, the BBN said.
It regulates the preparation of the country’s main defence-planning documents, such as the Political and Strategic Defence Directive, the Defence Response Plan, national plans for the deployment of armed forces, and the development of the Polish army, according to officials.
Moreover, the bill introduces a new planning document, called “the Permanent Defence Plan,” to ensure the Polish armed forces “are able to respond in a rapid and appropriate way to threats of a sudden nature,” the PAP news agency reported.
Command of the army
The president’s plan also foresees a reform of the Polish army’s command and control system “to ensure cohesion of command and align the peacetime and wartime structures and procedures,” the BBN said.
Here, the proposed measures include the merger of the army’s operational command and general command into a “joint forces command;” the creation of separate command structures for land forces, the air force and the navy; and the establishment of medical forces.
These changes are designed to help prepare the country “during peacetime for carrying out missions that will emerge during conflict,” the presidential office said.
The presidential bill has been drafted “based on an analysis of the Russian Federation’s doctrine of action in its aggression against Ukraine, and the exercises of Poland’s national defence system, carried out with the participation of the president, prime minister, the parliamentary Speakers, the defence minister, the chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army and other state authorities,” according to officials.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Thursday is day 540 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, bbn.gov.pl