Polish defence minister: exodus from army was larger under previous gov’t
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
23.03.2017 13:31
Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz has said that the current wave of resignations in the country’s armed forces was eclipsed by that seen during the previous government.
Antoni Macierewicz. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Answering parliamentary questions on Thursday, Macierewicz said that part of the reason why the number of colonels who left the army in 2016 was “slightly higher” than in 2015 was because vetting by the state-run Institute of National Remembrance – which investigates crimes committed against Poland between 1939 and 1989 – found that 700 officers had co-operated with communist authorities.
Macierewicz said that “consequences had to be drawn from this,” adding: “That's why the number of those colonels who left the army was a bit higher, but not much, than the number of colonels who left the year before.”
He blamed the previous governing coalition of the Civic Platform (PO) and the Polish People’s Party (PSL) of delaying the transfer of such information to the Institute of National Remembrance.
“Why did my predecessors hide the documents in a drawer despite the fact that they were obliged to convey them to the IPN? I do not know,” Macierewicz said.
“People retire, they leave due to personal reasons, and for other unforeseeable reasons, so this process of resigning is not related solely to staffing decisions made by the minister or his immediate supervisors. In this case, the slight increase [in resignations] was mainly related to vetting cases,” he said.
Addressing an opposition MP who, during Thursday’s parliamentary session dedicated to defence, asked a question related to the alleged exodus of officers from Poland’s army, Macierewicz said: “I understand that deputies may not have precise information on the state of affairs, and this is why questions and discussions during meetings of the National Defence Council and parliamentary debates are important.
“If one does not know the facts, it is better to ask [questions] than to tell lies. The highest number of resignations in the Polish army took place in 2010 and 2011 and were twice as large as the departures which are now taking place,” Macierewicz said.
The governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in late 2015. (rg/pk)