31st December 2025
New Year’s Address of the President Andrzej Duda
Dear Compatriots,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
As the last day of the year draws to a close, it is a time when we extend our very best wishes to one another. But it is also a time when take stock of the past and make plans for the future.
It is therefore with pride, but also with emotion, that I address you in my New Year’s Message on this special day for the tenth time running.
I am very proud of how much Poland and we Poles have achieved in these almost ten years. Our country has developed dynamically during this time, we have managed to carry out many extremely important and necessary investments, we have strengthened the Polish Army and the defence of our borders, and Poland’s importance on the international stage has also increased significantly. As Poles, we have shown that we are a hardworking and enterprising nation, one that has made excellent use of the opportunities that have opened up for us. It has been a good time for Poland!
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Our country has still many challenges in store for it. How we respond to them will determine whether this good time for Poland will continue.
Last year there were many worrying signs pertaining to the development of our country. A record budget deficit, delays in strategic investments such as the CPK, the central transportation hub, or the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant, problems in the healthcare system and the threat of hospital closures.
As President, I have repeatedly stressed that these are the issues on which the standard of living of Poles and the further development of our country depend. As one recaps this year, it is worth asking whether these issues were and are a priority for the current governing coalition.
Unfortunately, the answer is no. It has focused on deepening divisions and aggravating conflicts, leading to chaos in the judiciary and a lack of legal security for Poles, thus weakening Polish democracy.
Dear Compatriots!
The coming year 2025 is a year of presidential elections. We Poles will have to decide who we will entrust with the highest office in the land. This is what democracy is all about!
I deeply believe in the wisdom of my fellow citizens. I believe that they will entrust the management of Polish affairs to a President who will guard our sovereignty and independence, who will remain faithful to the Constitution, who will support the development of our country and who will effectively seek to realise the Polish raison d’état on the international stage.
All the more so because we are living in turbulent times, the times in which we have learnt that peace and freedom are not given once and for all. We must seek to secure them every day. That is why the security of our Homeland must be the most important issue for the future president. No matter to whom we entrust this office.
For me, the security of Poland and Poles has always been a top priority and an issue that should rise above all political divisions. This is how I have acted and will continue to act until the last day of my presidency. Both in Poland and when representing our country internationally.
Since the very beginning of Russia’s full–scale invasion of Ukraine, it is the ongoing war beyond our eastern border that is absolutely crucial to our security. Our position is constant and unchanging. This war cannot end in victory for Russia. It must end in a just peace that ensures that another, perhaps even greater, conflict does not break out in the future!
Our security rests on two pillars: a strong and modern army and the strength of our alliances. In Washington in March, I set out a proposal to increase defence spending by all North Atlantic Alliance countries to 3 per cent of their GDP. I am pleased that more countries are joining my initiative today. Because only a strong NATO, led by the United States, can guarantee the security of Poland and our entire region.
We in Poland know very well that there is no secure Europe without the commitment of the United States. Both militarily and economically. That is why the first priority of the Polish Presidency of the European Union, which begins on 1 January, is to strengthen cooperation between the EU and the United States.
Throughout my presidency, I have consistently sought to strengthen the strategic Polish–American relationship. Today I am proud to say that they are stronger than ever, but I am convinced that in the coming months they can take on an even deeper dimension!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Compatriots!
In a few hours, a new year, 2025, will be upon us.
I wish you every success! May it be a good and safe time for Poland, a time of joy and success for all of us!
Happy New Year!
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