Czech Republic ‘certainly not’ on path to higher defense spending, says Babis

PRAGUE: The Czech Republic is “certainly not” setting a path to reach higher defense spending despite rising NATO targets, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday, marking a clear departure from the previous government’s policy.
Babis’ government, led by his populist ANO party, took power in December and is pushing a re-worked 2026 budget plan through parliament. It has faced some criticism over lower defense spending, however.
Babis said before last year’s election ⁠that a NATO ⁠agreement to gradually raise defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product was unrealistic.
Asked in an online interview on Thursday on news server Denik.cz if the government was on a path to higher spending, Babis said: “Certainly not.”
“Our ⁠priority is the health of our citizens, so that they live long lives,” he said.
Babis won last year’s election with promises to concentrate more on people’s standard of living by boosting wages, cutting some taxes and adding new benefits.
The new government’s 2026 budget proposal cuts spending on defense to 2.1 percent of GDP versus the previous center-right cabinet’s plan for 2.35 percent — ⁠a ⁠plan Defense Minister Jaromir Zuna said on Wednesday would not hurt army modernization projects.
The previous administration — a staunch supporter of Kyiv in the Ukraine-Russia war — had sought for defense spending to gradually rise to 3 percent of GDP by 2030.
The new government has continued a Czech-led initiative sourcing large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine and financed by donations from countries like Germany. But it has stopped providing budget funds itself to the program.

Czech Republic ‘certainly not’ on path to higher defense spending, says Babis