Czechia to Increase Defense Budget Amid U.S. and NATO Pressure

The Czech government plans to increase this year’s defense budget to meet its NATO commitments. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s cabinet aims to raise military spending to 2% of the country’s GDP.

Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna said the government wants to add around 20 billion Czech koruna (about $966 million) to the defense budget, according to Seznam Zprávy.

The Defense Ministry currently has a budget of 155 billion koruna (around $7.49 billion). The final amount will be decided in talks with the Finance Ministry.

The additional funding became necessary after NATO stopped counting civilian infrastructure projects as defense spending. Previously, Prague included repairs to civilian roads and railways in its security expenditures, but NATO estimated the country’s real military spending at only 1.8% of GDP.

The government plans to approve the budget changes before the NATO summit in Ankara this July. Czech officials are also preparing for meetings with Alliance leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump, who continues to push European allies to spend more on defense.

In March, the United States issued a tough demand to the Czech Republic to significantly increase its defense spending.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker stated that the new standard for Alliance members should be defense spending equal to 5% of GDP, stressing that there should be no excuses or exceptions.