(Bloomberg) — Poland plans to intensify its push for increased defense spending when it takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency in January, Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said on Friday.
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The pressing issue of increasing joint safeguards against Russia is highly divisive with European Parliament elections due this June and Hungary taking then taking over the six-month presidency.
“We need more solidarity among European countries,” Domanski said in an interview in Washington. Even if the war ended tomorrow, a high level of investment in defense would need to be maintained, he said.
Poland, a NATO member, has been ramping up its defense spending in the face of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The prolonged war, now into its third year, has sparked discussions among EU leaders over how to finance a major overhaul of the defense sector.
In the meantime, Domanski, a former Warsaw-based equity portfolio manager, is focused on pitching Poland as a top investment destination for international investors looking to move money away from Asia and closer to the European markets, arguing the country will be the key beneficiary of friend-shoring.
“Poland is on a roll,” he said. “Poland right now is the best place to invest in Europe.”
Domanski said he had a fruitful discussion with Intel Corp. and expects the construction of the company’s $4.6 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in western Poland to start within the next three or four years.
Back at home, Domanski said there are no plans to sell stakes in state-controlled companies, and that “the state controlled-companies should pay dividends.”
Sovereign debt issuance will focus on domestic markets and the ministry plans to be active “across the curve.”
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