Just under half of Czechs would support an increase in defence spending, according to data from a survey by the STEM agency, released this weekend. 27% of respondents said Czech defence spending should reach the EU average of 2.8% of GDP, while a further 17% said it should be higher still.
On the other hand, 24% of Czechs would prefer defence spending to remain at 2% of GDP, while 17% would like it to be reduced. 14% had no opinion.
“Our assessment from previous years has been confirmed: while the Czechs are not the most hawkish members of the [NATO] alliance and do not want to invest too heavily in the military, they certainly do not want to be at the bottom of the list or even cut defence spending,” said STEM analyst Jiri Taborsky.
STEM pointed out that people’s views on this matter are heavily influenced by their political beliefs and their perception of the country’s vulnerability in the current situation.
“A certain connection can also be found with the economic situation of households,” noted Taborsky. “Generally speaking, people who are better off, voters of the former government parties, and people who perceive a threat to the Czech Republic are more in favour of increasing defence spending.”
Older people and those with lower levels of education tend to be opposed to defence spending.
A majority of Czechs (57%) agree that the security of the Czech Republic is under threat given the current international situation. This sense of threat has remained high since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Taborsky said that while people who voted for the former government of Petr Fiala (ODS) perceive the threat as very high, those who voted for the parties of the current government of Andrej Babis (ANO) perceive it as significantly lower. He noted that this difference is also reflected in other attitudes, such as the aforementioned willingness to spend money on defence.
A prevailing majority of Czechs (82%) support their country’s membership of NATO. The security alliance generally enjoys a high level of trust among the Czech public, which holds true across voter groups and other segments of society.
At a 2014 summit in Wales, NATO member states committed to working toward defence spending of at least 2% of GDP by 2025. At a summit in The Hague last year, they agreed on a new target to increase total defence and security spending to 5% of GDP within ten years, with 3.5% going toward arms procurement.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in April that the Czech Republic would not meet its commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence this year. Last week, following talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Babis said he was “optimistic” about increasing defence spending.
