The Czech Prime Minister: The Czech Republic Refuses Financial Aid for Ukraine
According to the Czech News Report, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš stated that Prague will not participate in a NATO plan to provide 70 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine. He said the Czech budget is unable to bear this expense, and domestic funds must be prioritized toward fulfilling its own defense spending commitments. At the same time, Babiš emphasized that the Czech Republic has no intention of obstructing the implementation of this aid initiative.
"We certainly will not allocate funds from our national budget to support Ukraine; these resources must first be used to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense. Normally, such aid funding has always been borne by major powers."
Additionally, the Czech Republic still cannot meet the NATO target of allocating 2% of GDP to defense spending this year. The government has pledged to achieve this standard by 2027, with an additional 36 billion CZK in defense budget.
Babiš said, "For us, it is significant that this coalition government is attending the summit for the first time and taking responsibility for defense spending. Next year, we will increase the defense budget by 36 billion CZK, at which point we will finally meet the 2% spending target."
In contrast, Czech President Peter Pavel considers supporting Ukraine crucial and has called for maintaining, rather than cutting, assistance to Ukraine. However, his stance contradicts the government’s policy, highlighting deep divisions within Czech society.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870065301395468/
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