President Petr Pavel does not intend to hinder the signing of the state budget for this year, said Finance Minister Alena Schillerová (ANO) after meeting with him. He expects that the exact date of signing the budget will be published after the President’s meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) on Tuesday. The president had previously announced that he would not veto the budget. At the meeting with Schiller, however, he criticized the level of defense spending.
The budget with a deficit of 310 billion crowns was approved by the lower house of parliament last week, and all that remains for its final adoption is the signature of the head of state. After the President’s signature and the issuance of the law in the Collection of Laws, the provisional period, which since the beginning of the year limited monthly state expenditures to one-twelfth of last year’s, will end.
According to Schillerová, Pavel was most interested in the chapter of the Ministry of Defense at Monday’s meeting. “Mr. President has made no secret of the fact that he thinks defense spending is low,” said Schillerová.
“The main part of the meeting was devoted to expenses intended for the security of the country and its citizens. In this context, the president criticized the proposal, both in the chapter of the Ministry of Defense and in the overall expenses for security forces and state institutions,” the presidential office later confirmed.
“We are not questioning two percent of GDP,” Schillerová asserted, referring to the statutory minimum defense spending of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which the Czech Republic also committed to in NATO. According to the draft state budget, defense spending should reach 2.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
However, the National Budget Council (NRR) pointed out that the Ministry of Defense’s expenditure will be 1.73 percent of GDP and the remaining part is in other chapters, among other things the government includes transport infrastructure. But according to the council, it is not certain whether the North Atlantic Alliance will recognize these expenditures as defense.
In addition, NATO states, including the country, agreed last year to increase defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2035 and spend another one and a half percent on related non-military investments. Schiller did not say whether defense spending would increase accordingly. According to her, the preparation of next year’s budget has not yet started, so she cannot say how high defense spending will be.
The presidential office added that at a time of growing security threats, Pavel does not consider it justifiable for defense spending to stagnate or even decrease. “In this regard, the President asked the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance that the government submit a state budget that includes an outlook for the following years, as required by law,” Hrad said.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) recently said that the Czech Republic is definitely not on the way to the goal of spending 3.5 percent of GDP on defense. “Our priority is the health of our fellow citizens, so that they live long,” he said Deníku.cz. American diplomacy has also repeatedly called on the country to comply with its obligations regarding defense financing.
Schillerová justifies the lower defense spending than the Czech Republic promised by the lack of money in other budget chapters.
Dispute over the legality of the budget
Schillerová also discussed with the president the dispute between the ministry and the NRR about whether the submitted budget violated the Budget Responsibility Act. According to the council, the deficit is higher than the rules allow. The Ministry insists that the rules apply only to the discussion of the budget in due time, and not to the situation where the House of Representatives has returned the proposal to the government for revision.
The minister said on Monday that she and the president agreed that only the court could decide clearly. At the same time, however, he does not expect the dispute to be resolved in court.
According to the Castle, at the meeting, Pavel also praised the government’s efforts to draw up a budget that corresponds to reality, taking into account expected income and expenses.
On Tuesday, Pavel will connect Schillerová with the already mentioned meeting with Babiš. The president also wants to draw his attention to the problems he sees with the state budget.
