IS POLAND A WARRIOR STATE

Since March 2003, the government of Poland has been involved in the war in Iraq. We can hear a lot about the increase of “the role that Poland plays internationally” as well as about “benefits” brought about by this intervention. However, not much has been said about the costs of the country’s involvement in the war. Polish authorities spare no expense on military purposes. Since Poland joined the NATO, the army has been one of the largest beneficiaries of the state budgets. E.g. the budget of the Ministry of National Defence was 1.8 billion PLN in 1991, 8.3 billion PLN in 1996, more than 17 billion PLN in 2005 and is as high as 18 billion PLN (4.7 billion euro) this year. This means that the expenditure on national defence has increased by over 8% compared since the last year!

At the same time other, and more important, public expenditures decrease. E.g. the expenditure on health care was 1.8% of the total budget in 2002, 1.5% in 2004 and 1.4% in 2005; the expenditure on education was 1% of the total budget in 2002, 0.6% in 2004 and 0.4% in 2005. 1.4% spent on health care equals 3 billion PLN, 0.4% on education is only 867 million PLN, 0.7% on housing is 1.4 million PLN and 1.38% on science equals 2.9 million PLN. The sum total of budget expenditures on health care, education, housing and science is therefore smaller than the expenditure on the army!

Equipping the Polish Army with “multitask aircrafts”	916.1 million PLN	241 million €
“The state’s aid in food security” programme	350 million PLN	92.1 million €
Funds for childbirth assistance	130 million PLN	34.2 million €
Funds for health care services to the uninsured	90 million PLN	23.7 million €
Scholarships and aid of the youth from rural areas	70.7 million PLN	18.6 million €
Internet labs at school	29 million PLN	7.6 million €
Development of a network of assistance centres and crisis intervention centres	16 million PLN	4.2 million €
Aid for Roma community	5 million PLN	1.3 million €

916 100 000 PLN (approx. 240 million €) spent on the purchase of “multitask aircrafts” equals:

§ 130,871,428 meals, 7 PLN (1.84 €) each = a meal everyday for 358,551 people

§ 6,107,333 textbook sets for primary school’s 1st grade (approximately 150 PLN/40 € per set)

§ 9,161,000 pairs of winter boots for children (approximately 100 PLN/26 € per pair)

Wrocław Antiwar Coalition demands a change of the priorities in the budget policies of Polish state! We want our tax money to be spent on satisfying the basic needs of all of us: on food, housing, health care, education, public transportation, and not on the military budget.