Poland considers constitutional rule on defence spending, army training for all men

WARSAW, March 7 (Reuters) - Poland's President Andrzej Duda proposed enshrining defence spending of at least 4% of GDP in the constitution on Friday, while the prime minister said every adult male would receive military training, as Warsaw readies itself for threats from Moscow.

Galvanised by Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine three years ago, Poland now spends a higher proportion of GDP on defence than any other NATO member, including the United States.

Last year Poland's defence spending reached 4.1% of GDP, according to NATO estimates, and it plans to hit 4.7% this year.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk later said in parliament that spending 5% on defence seems "a necessity, but that Poles have "a lot of effort ahead of us."

He added that the government wanted to put in place by the end of the year a system for training every adult male for the event of a war, without presenting further details.

"We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war so that this reserve is truly... adequate to potential threats," Tusk said.

He also said he supported Poland withdrawing from international conventions that ban the use of anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions.

Duda said on Thursday during a joint press conference in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that all NATO countries should raise defence spending to at least 3% of GDP immediately.

Also on Thursday, European Union leaders in Brussels backed plans to spend more on defence. U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt on his willingness to defend Washington's NATO allies, saying he would not do so if they were not paying enough for their own defence.