US Ambassador to NATO Slams Czechia Over Low Defence Spending

The United States' permanent representative to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, publicly criticised Czechia on Friday for failing to make sufficient progress toward meeting its Hague defence spending commitments. He made the remarks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) summit in Prague.

"It's disappointing that Czechia hasn't made more progress on meeting the Hague defence commitment," Whitaker said, according to Reuters. He warned that the country risks ending up among the alliance's weakest members in terms of defence spending. "That's the message I personally delivered yesterday and today to our friends here in Czechia," the diplomat added.

During his visit to Prague, Whitaker held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

Okamura: Not Enough Money

Tomio Okamura, leader of the SPD party and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies — whose party oversees the Defence Ministry — attributed the modest defence budget to the need to boost payments to citizens. "Our government wants to fulfil its election promises, so we're putting more money into the pockets of Czech citizens, and there isn't enough left for a substantial increase in defence spending," Okamura told the news outlet Novinky in response to the American ambassador's comments.

Unmet Commitments

Last year, at a NATO summit held under Petr Fiala's government, Czechia joined its allies in pledging to raise direct defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035. Yet the country has never even met its earlier commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence.

Finance Minister Alena Schillerová has drawn up next year's budget, which is meant to bring spending up to that 2% threshold for the first time. However, the government has no plans to significantly increase spending in subsequent years, and members of the ruling coalition have described the Hague commitment as unrealistic.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz