Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) will launch discussions soon with ministers on an increase in the defence budget, he wrote on social media after yesterday’s summit of European leaders in London, saying that it was “necessary to move from words to action”.
Fiala also said that during the meeting, a “coalition of the responsible” – those feeling responsibility for the security and defence of Europe – was formed. The coalition will invest in defence and in strengthening Ukraine.
“We have agreed that we will all invest more in our own defence, and also that we will strengthen our military support to Ukraine, because the most important security guarantee for Ukraine is its strong army,” wrote Fiala. “We are all aware of the gravity of the situation, and now we need to move from words to action. That is also why I will soon discuss with my colleagues from the government an increase in the defence budget.”
Last week, Fiala spoke of the need to increase the defence budget from 2% to 2.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year, with a prospective increase to at least 3%.
Earlier yesterday, Fiala told Czech Television that the London summit participants had agreed on the need to increase support for Ukraine, and that one of the security guarantees was to have a strong army. At the same time, it was necessary to “take more care of our security and to reinforce the funds we put into security.”
He also praised the cooperation of France and the UK, which he said had taken a kind of leadership role. “They are countries that are on the Security Council, they are nuclear powers. So it is important that they are working together with our support, and I think that is good news,” Fiala said.
The summit of European countries was convened in London by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to support Ukraine and to resume diplomatic talks after Friday’s clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US President Donald Trump. Representatives of more than a dozen countries were present, with Fiala representing the Czech Republic. Zelenskiy also attended the meeting.
