Head of army calls for restructure of EU military missions during Czech presidency of union

The head of the Czech army Vlastimil Picek has urged the government to highlight the overlap between some EU and NATO military missions during the Czech Republic’s presidency of the European Union starting in January next year. Mr Picek said on Tuesday that small countries such as the Czech Republic found it difficult to bear the financial burden of participating in two missions in one country, and urged Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanová to attempt to restructure some of the EU’s defence activities during the country’s six months at the helm. For her part, Mrs Parkanová said that she would be focusing on widening some of the EU’s foreign missions during the Czech EU presidency – in particular, the defence minister said she aimed to fortify the EU’s presence in Afghanistan. In response to Mr Picek’s request, the defence minister said the Czech military budget would be raised next year by 1.5 billion crowns to nearly 55.5 billion crowns (2.9 billion USD).