Polish president proposes enshrining defense spending of at least 4% of GDP in constitution

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo of a Polish service member via Grey Dynamics

WARSAW (Reuters) -     Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Friday that he had proposed to parliament amending the constitution to make it mandatory to spend at least 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.

Galvanised by Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine three years ago, Poland now spends a higher proportion of GDP on defence than any other NATO member, including the United States.

Last year Poland's defence spending reached 4.1% of GDP, according to NATO estimates, and it plans to hit 4.7% this year.

"I hope that such an amendment will be accepted by the (lower house)... that our parliament will firmly guarantee that the level of expenditure on defence will not be hastily reduced," Duda said after meeting parliament speaker Szymon Holownia. 

Duda said on Thursday during a joint press conference in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that all NATO countries should raise defence spending to at least 3% of GDP immediately.

Also on Thursday, European Union leaders in Brussels backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by U.S. President Donald Trump's reversal of U.S. policies.    

The European moves follow Trump's decision to pause military aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and to pivot towards Russian views of the three-year-old conflict there.

Trump cast doubt on Thursday on his willingness to defend Washington's NATO allies, saying he would not do so if they were not paying enough for their own defence. He has previously said NATO allies should spend 5% of GDP on defence, a target no country - including the U.S. - currently meets.

 (Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alan Charlish and Gareth Jones)