Fiala: Govt. aims to reach 2 percent spending on defence in 2024

The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, and the minister of defence, Jana Černochová, say that the government aims to reach spending of 2 percent of GDP on defence in 2024, instead of the original target date of 2025.

After a meeting between the two on Thursday, Mr. Fiala said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had proven that his cabinet had been right to set defence and modernization of the Czech army as priorities when they were appointed late last year.

The PM said reaching the target of 2 percent spending on defence by 2024 was ambitious and would not be easy.

NATO members are obliged to put at least that amount of their budgets into defence.