New Polish president receives supreme command of armed forces
Karol Nawrocki, newly sworn-in Polish president, assumed command of Poland's armed forces during a ceremony held on Wednesday afternoon at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Warsaw's Pilsudskiego Square.
The event is symbolic as Nawrocki is supreme commander of the armed forces from the moment he is sworn in.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the ceremony that Nawrocki is "assuming command of a magnificent army whose greatest treasure are its soldiers."
He also said that Poland was on the front line of defence in the Western world.
Nawrocki pledged he would be "an active commander-in-chief of the armed forces," one who "wants to have an influence on the recruitment system, modernisation and further development of the Polish Army."
He said that "in the 21st century, we know well that our security is not only about military security, but also about civilian security.. but we are deeply convinced that today, it is Polish soldiers who decide whether Poland is safe or not."
Nawrocki further declared that the Presidential Palace and the presidential National Security Bureau (BBN) would not be "a redoubt of contestation of government actions in the field of our common security... but of motivation, of searching for common solutions for our common national security."
He also announced that he would do everything in his power to build an army of at least 300,000 in the coming years, "which would be the strongest NATO army in Europe."
"I know how difficult this process is, but I believe that Poland will become a military superpower," he added.
Earlier in the day, Nawrocki took the presidential oath in the Sejm, lower house, in front of the National Assembly. He was later confirmed as the Grand Master of the Order of the White Eagle and Order Polonia Restituta in a ceremony at the Royal Castle.(PAP)
mmr/jch
