Government spokesman on the presidential act on the Polish Defense Investment Fund: it is about nothing

The government will not deal with the presidential proposal of the Act on the Polish Defense Investment Fund, implementing the concept of “Polish SAFE 0 percent.” – said government spokesman Adam Szłapka on Saturday. As he said, the bill is about nothing.

President Karol Nawrocki announced on Thursday that he will not sign the act implementing the EU SAFE reinforcement mechanism; he assessed that it affects “our sovereignty, independence, economic and military security.” On Friday, information about the veto of the bill, along with the justification, appeared on the KPRP website.

Earlier, the president, together with the president of the NBP, Adam Glapiński, presented his own alternative to the program, i.e. “Polski SAFE 0 percent”. A draft act on the Polish Defense Investment Fund has been submitted to the Sejm. It assumes the creation of a fund whose primary source of financing will be funds from the profit of the National Bank of Poland.

“Zero zloty presidential program”

The government spokesman said on Saturday that the draft law on the Polish Defense Investment Fund is a “zero zloty presidential program.”

– There is a strange law that creates a new bureaucracy and is a kind of usurpation of power by the president. There is no money proposed in this bill – exactly zero zlotys. Presidential program zero zlotys. And there is, or was there some vague announcement by Adam Glapiński that there would be some profit. In a letter to the Prime Minister, President Glapiński wrote that the accumulated loss of NBP in recent years amounts to PLN 100 billion. This means that he is not planning any profit for next year, said Adam Szłapka.

He declared that if such a profit appeared, the government would be interested in using it.

– However, there are appropriate regulations for this. There is an Act on the National Bank of Poland that precisely describes what happens if the NBP makes a profit. 5 percent remains in the National Bank of Poland as a reserve, 95 percent. is transferred to the budget. And of course, the government guarantees that this money will be spent on the safety and health of Poles – explained Adam Szłapka.

Asked whether the government would deal with the president's proposal at all, Szłapka said: “I think there is no need, because this bill is about nothing – zero zlotys.”

After the president's announcement to veto the SAFE Act, the government adopted a resolution authorizing the ministers of defense and finance to sign a loan agreement with SAFE. In accordance with the resolution on the Polska Zbrojna program, the SAFE loan will be taken out by BGK for the Armed Forces Support Fund. (PAP)

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