Czech lawmakers approved the country's 2026 budget Wednesday, allocating 1.7% of GDP to defence despite pressure from the US and President Petr Pavel to meet NATO targets.
The lower house voted 104-87 to allocate almost 155 billion koruna ($7.4 billion) for the Defence Ministry. The spending would inch above 2% only if funding for defence-related projects at other ministries is included.
NATO members committed in 2014 to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence. At the 2025 Hague summit, under pressure from the Trump administration, the alliance agreed to invest 5% of GDP by 2035.
This further breaks down to 3.5% on core defence requirements and 1.5% on defence- and security-related spending.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said the state budget is strained and that there are other priorities, including healthcare. According to Babiš the country inherited a budget deficit from the previous government that prevents increased defence spending.
Earlier this month Pavel, a retired army general, urged lawmakers to increase the budget, citing the ongoing Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "Today, there is not a single justifiable reason for defence and security spending to stagnate," he said. "Europe is facing the most serious military conflict in 80 years."
The president must sign the budget and Pavel said he will do so because the budget is the government's business, not his.
Babiš returned to office after his ANO movement won the election last October, forming a governing coalition with the nationalist Eurosceptic Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) and the Motorists for Themselves party (AUTO). The Czech Republic has been a NATO member since 1999.
