Minister Šlechtová pledges to increase defence spending budget

Defence Minister Karla Šlechtová, who is attending the security conference in Munich, pledged to increase the defence spending budget to 2.0 percent of the country’s GDP by the year 2024. She made the statement to the Czech News Agency on Saturday. Šlechtová said it would be quite outrageous if the Czech Republic failed to fulfil the target which NATO partners agreed on.

Czech defence spending last year stood at around 1.1 percent of the country’s GDP and according to some experts, it is unlikely to meet the 2.0 percent commitment by 2020.

Author: Ruth Fraňková