Approving the plan during a trip to a military training site in the southeast of the country, Duda said the hike would kick in on January 1 and increase the monthly pay of professional soldiers by PLN 576 (EUR 133, USD 146) on average.
After the new rules take effect, the average pay of a career soldier in Poland will go up from PLN 5,529 to PLN 6,153 a month, including bonuses, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
At a joint news conference with Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, Duda praised soldiers as they practiced together with German troops at a training ground in Nowa Dęba near the city of Tarnobrzeg in Poland’s southeastern Podkarpackie province.
Polish 'blue helmets' to help in Lebanon
Duda also told reporters that Polish troops would soon be deployed to join United Nations peacekeeping operations in Lebanon.
"I hope that soon the Polish blue helmets will again be bringing peace, peace and security to people,” he said.
He added that a contingent of 250 Polish military and civilian personnel would be sent to Lebanon.
“I am convinced they are perfectly prepared for this mission,” Duda said.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said in July that his country would rejoin United Nations peacekeeping missions after a hiatus of more than a decade.
More funds for defence
Poland’s Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said last month that the government would place over PLN 6.8 billion (EUR 1.5bn, USD 1.7bn) worth of orders with the country’s arms industry this year, far more than in previous years.
Amid fears of aggressive policies by Russia, Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which swept to power in 2015, has named defence as a priority and embarked on a military modernisation drive.
The Polish president in October 2017 signed into law plans to steadily increase the country’s defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR