On Friday, on the occasion of Polish Armed Forces Day, Warsaw hosted the largest military parade to date. Although the event was positively received by the vast majority, within Szymon Hołownia’s party, Polska 2050, a critical voice emerged against… Law and Justice (PiS). Why? Good question.
The past few years have seen an unprecedented increase in defense spending, especially on military equipment. Since 2020 – particularly intensively after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 – contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars have been signed for military equipment. Some of this equipment is already in use by the Polish Armed Forces, but some will take years to arrive. Some announced contracts have not yet materialized, partly due to difficulties in securing financing.
Nevertheless, without a doubt – a revolution in military hardware can be observed in the armored forces. In recent years, Poland has ordered over 700 modern tanks, of which around 300 have already arrived and are replacing outdated Soviet-era T-72s and their Polish development variant PT-91 in armored units. Tanks of two types have been ordered – American M1 Abrams and South Korean K2 tanks. Ultimately, Poland is to receive 366 Abrams tanks, including 250 in the modern M1A2 SEPv3 version and 116 in the older M1A1 version. Deliveries of the older Abrams version have already been completed, which allowed, among other things, a rapid replenishment of some losses after over 300 old Polish tanks were transferred to Ukrainian forces.
Ultimately, the 116 older Abrams tanks are to be modernized to the standard of the other 250 ordered vehicles. Tanks from this second batch are currently being delivered to the military; this year, they were presented for the first time – operated by soldiers from the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade – at the military parade in Warsaw.
This year’s parade was described as the largest in history. You can see a photo report below:
Senator from Polska 2050: “PiS Is Doing This on Purpose“
However… the event did not please some members of the ruling coalition. For example, Senator Piotr Masłowski from Polska 2050. As he stated, PiS is behind it (even though they have not been in power for almost 2 years).
In an interview with Onet, the politician was asked whether the parade was “just fluff.” His answer was:
“A bit, yes. I have this… I don’t know, maybe because of my year of birth, I was born in 1977 – the PRL (Polish People’s Republic) reminds me negatively of the terrible 1980s. But this is exactly the kind of narrative that refers back to those times.”
He went even further: “Besides, in my opinion, PiS is doing this deliberately and consciously, because a large group of their voters are older people who associate the PRL with the 1970s. And with such beautiful times for them. That’s why I think that the narrative elements, which for me are like a copy, are done completely…”
When reminded that “it’s the Ministry of National Defense (MON), your coalition partner, that is behind this year’s parade”, he agreed and… began to get confused.