Former General Stanisław Koziej criticizes President Duda’s direct meeting with military leaders, bypassing the Defense Minister, as a purely political move.
President Duda’s Credibility Questioned
General Stanisław Koziej asserts that President Andrzej Duda has lost credibility. He argues that a meeting between the president and top military officials without the participation of the Minister of National Defence should not have even been planned, let alone carried out.
Koziej, a former head of the National Security Bureau (BBN) and Deputy Minister of National Defence, and currently a professor at the War Studies Academy, emphasizes that the president made a purely political gesture.
Constitutional Principles Undermined
In an interview published in “Gazeta Wyborcza,” General Koziej stated that summoning generals for a briefing without consulting the head of the Ministry of National Defence disrupts the constitutional principle whereby the president exercises supreme command “through the Minister of National Defence.”
He believes that holding such a meeting without the head of the ministry is inappropriate and places commanders in an uncomfortable position.
SAFE Veto and Military Trust
The situation is worsened by the fact that the meeting occurred after a dispute over the SAFE program, where, according to the general, the president is “shooting himself in the foot” and undermining the idea of state supremacy over the military.
Koziej claims the president is trying to “neutralize the negative effect of his veto,” but by omitting the minister, he is making a purely political gesture that will not improve the president’s authority but will deepen distrust within the army.
Impact of the SAFE Veto on Armaments
The veto against the SAFE program, according to General Koziej, will complicate the arms procurement process, although it won’t halt it.
The interviewee of “GW” assesses that the president has lost credibility and the trust of the army, and the military has been deprived of real support at a crucial moment.
Initial Promise Lost
The former military official admitted that the beginning of President Nawrocki’s presidency as supreme commander of the armed forces was positive, but this was later undermined by a “partisan approach” to security matters.
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