Babiš: Government to approve Landovský as NATO envoy on Monday

The Czech government will approve the appointment of Jakub Landovský as special envoy for meeting the country’s commitments to NATO on Monday, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said on Sunday in a video posted on social media. Babiš had already announced the appointment last week in an interview on TV Nova.

According to the prime minister, the former Czech ambassador to NATO will help ensure the country meets its commitment to spend at least two percent of GDP on defence. Babiš said Landovský would coordinate defence spending issues across several ministries. He also described defence as extremely important and said the government was continuing efforts to increase the number of soldiers.

This year’s budget currently allocates defence spending at 1.7 percent of GDP. According to the government, Czechia would only exceed the two-percent target if some defence-related projects at other ministries were also included.