President Petr Pavel said the Czech Republic was ready to support a potential defence spending target of 5% of GDP at the NATO summit in The Hague this June, according to Euractiv.
If the discussions in The Hague lead us to a consensus that it is necessary to spend up to 5% of GDP on defence, the Czech Republic is ready to support it.
The Czech Republic reached NATO’s current target of 2% for the first time last year, with Pavel’s government already committed to reaching 3% by 2030.
When you add up all the needs of the armed forces and all the requirements that arise in the defence planning cycle for the years 2025 to 2029 and translate them into figures, they amount to somewhere between 3.5 and 3.7% of GDP.
However, the Czech president warned allies against arguing about “how many percent of GDP we should spend on defence.” Instead, he called for a focus on “the need to feel safe.”
