Paweł Supernak/PAP

Poland’s president has told the country’s lower house of parliament that he is willing to work with it and that the doors to the Presidential Palace are always open to all, going on to emphasise the need for a militarily strong country.

Andrzej Duda was addressing the first session of the new Sejm, which convened for the first time on Monday following elections in October.

“As president of Poland I declare readiness to cooperate with the newly elected parliament,” Duda told the house. “My most important message from the very start of my term of office, since 2015, has been and is cooperation and once again cooperation in the most important matters for Poland. The doors of the Presidential Palace are always open to everyone who is ready to undertake such cooperation.”

Duda went on to say that “today, definitely the most important issue that demands cross-party cooperation is the security of our motherland,” adding that he hoped the previous government’s policy of increasing the country’s defence spending would be continued and that “expenditure on the Armed Forces will be maintained at the level of at least 4 percent of GDP.”

“We live in dangerous times,” Duda said. “The full-scale war just beyond our eastern border has made that very clear to us every day lately.”