Polish Minister of Defence In France. NATO Summit and Modernization Talks.

Antoni Macierewicz, Polish Minister of Defence announced, during his visit to France, that the talks related to modernization of the Polish Army will be continued before the meeting of the Ministers of Defence of the NATO member states. In practical terms, the above means that the consulting dialogue is going to be continued throughout the upcoming days, since the meeting of the heads of the Ministries of Defence of the NATO member states is planned – according to the official NATO release – between 10th and 11th February.

We have been discussing, in a very thorough manner, the issues related to security at the NATO’s Eastern and Southern flanks. (...) We have agreed that, within the area related to modernization of the Polish Army, the talks will be continued also prior to the meeting of the Ministers of Defence of the NATO member states in Brussels.

During the talks, issues related to international military cooperation, and the NATO Summit, which is planned to take place in Warsaw in July, were also discussed. Antoni Macierewicz, Polish Minister of Defence also confirmed the exercise schedule. Both Parties are aware of the importance (...) of those events for our countries and for our armies – as the Minister noted.

According to the information that had been released earlier by the Polish General Command of the Armed Forces, France is going to deploy a large detachment for the 2016 exercises taking place in Poland. Last year, a single French armoured element armed with the Leclerc main battle tanks was involved in the training operations in Poland.

According to the Polish Minister of Defence, Poland, as well as France, are both well aware of the fact that the decisions that are to be made during the Warsaw summit are going to push NATO forward, leading to a change of its stance on taken during the Newport summit, back in 2014. The talks pertaining the detailed arrangements will be continued.