Bad news for arms dealers and warmongers

Trillion-crown president

The government of Andrej Babiš is in the uncomfortable position of being criticized by Pres. Petr Pavel, U.S. Amb. Nicholas Merrick and the opposition for not putting enough money into defense and at the same time of not being able to talk openly about how much it actually plans to spend. During its four years in office, the ANO-SPD-Moto coalition in fact plans core defense outlays of Kč 780bn, which is just 2% of GDP but is more in current prices than the total defense expenditures in 2016-2024 and 50% more than the Fiala government devoted to defense during its four years in office. Explaining such big numbers to voters of the ruling coalition won't be easy. Yet Pavel and the opposition want even more. Pavel's demands for the 2026-2029 tenure of the current government add up to about Kč 1 trillion, taking into account GDP growth and an incremental increase toward the 5% Nato target. One trillion crowns is Kč 200m for each of the CR's 5,000 combat-ready soldiers. As the commander-in-chief, Pavel should explain in more detail how he expects this unprecedented amount of money to be spent.