Less than two weeks before the parliamentary elections and a week before Poland starts negotiations on conditions for joining NATO, the government approved a strategic program on Sept. 9 for reforming the armed forces.

In the next 15 years, personnel will be slashed, the role of professional soldiers will be strengthened, and zl. 40 billion will be spent on technical modernization. "The fact that this program has been approved will be an additional argument for our negotiators," said Prime Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz. "We are the first country in Central and Eastern Europe able to draw up a plan for entering NATO."