The Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said his country will likely fall short of NATO's longstanding benchmark goal of 2 percent of GDP for total defense spending this year, amid United States' call for its allies to increase the budget.
"We will do our best" to meet the pledge, Babis said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, adding that his populist government was struggling with a budget shortfall due to overspending by his pro-European Union predecessor.
Babis said Prague remains committed to hitting NATO's target for core military expenditure by 2035, but argued allies should prioritize capability improvements over easily manipulated spending targets.
Despite signing the 2026 budget into law in March, Czech President Petr Pavel — who has clashed with the Babis government over its plans to scale back defense spending — warned that military outlays do not match rising security threats or NATO spending commitments.
"The president views the state of the defense budget with great concern," his office said in a statement at the time. The "defense budget is essentially stagnating and does not correspond to the obligations to NATO allies", it added.
