As the head of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, Jana Chernohova admitted there is a risk that her country may not fulfil its obligations to NATO in 2024. She draws attention to the fact that the target indicator of defence expenditures from the budget of 2% of GDP has been achieved.
The Czech Republic may not fulfil its obligations to NATO
Yana Chernokhova draws attention to the fact that the Czech government has already realized the possibility that the commitment to NATO will not be achieved next year.
I'm not lying because I don't know if it will work. We are doing our best to have the North Atlantic Alliance recognize some of the budget items as defense spending. Some positions are indisputable, and we will fight for some positions, - said the head of the Ministry of Defense.
What is essential to understand is that out of the record 160 billion crowns (about 6.2 billion euros), which the country's authorities plan to spend on defence in 2024, more than 8.5 billion should go to institutions that do not belong to the defence department.
First, we discuss the State Material Reserves Administration, the Ministry of Transport and the National Cyber and Information Security Administration.
Considering all this, the official Prague must prove to NATO that these expenses are related to the state's defence.
Why did this problem occur?
As mentioned earlier, back in the summer, Czech President Petr Pavel signed a law in which his country is obliged to spend at least two per cent of its GDP on defence every year, as stipulated in the agreements within the Alliance.
The parliament finally approved the law at the end of May.
What is essential to understand is that last year, Czech defence spending was only 1.34% of GDP.
