He went on to suggest that Poland would be safer if it had its own nuclear arsenal, but said the prospect of acquiring one remained far away.
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“Today, it is clear that we would be safer if we had our own nuclear arsenal, that is beyond doubt. In any case, the road to that would be very long and there would have to be a consensus too,” he said.
Jaroslaw Kaczyński, the head of the country’s largest opposition party, the conservative Law and Justice, said that a mental shift in society would also be needed in addition to the military training of men.
“We will have a return to the chivalric ethos and to the fact that men should also be soldiers, that is, be able to expose themselves, even to death,” Kaczyński said.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said he was submitting an amendment to the country’s Constitution for consideration which would oblige it to spend at least 4 per cent of its gross domestic product each year on defence.
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Poland ended conscription in 2008, but the debate over military service for Europe’s civilians has become an issue since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, particularly those nearer to the Russian frontier.
The incoming German government, the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union, led by Friedrich Merz, is said to be considering a return to conscription of some form.
Merz, who swept to victory in last month’s elections, has also called for the French and British nuclear umbrella to be extended to his country, as the United States has become “indifferent to the fate of Europe”.