Czech PM says higher spending on defense in coming years is understandable

Two percent of GDP spending on defense will clearly be the minimum threshold in the years' to come, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said at a press conference in Prague on Wednesday.  The Czech head of government said it would be realistic to talk about spending three percent of the GDP in a few years time. Fiala was reacting to the demand of the incoming US President Donald Trump, who wants the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to sharply increase their defence spending to five per cent of GDP. The Czech head of government said Czechia is not opposed to a debate on the issue. "We will have to discuss whether to spend more. There are countries that already spend four percent. So let's look for the right limit," he said.

The Czech Defense Ministry said on Monday that the country had fulfilled its commitment to spend 2 percent of the GDP on defense in 2024.