Czech army faces shortage of soldiers

"Currently, the Czech army has about 23.6 thousand soldiers, and last year's recruitment campaign resulted in a net increase of only 176 soldiers, which is far from the targets set in the new defense plans," the material says.

According to the Czech Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff, the recruitment rate is too low to meet the country's defense needs. According to the plans of the Ministry of Defense, the size of the army should reach at least 37.5 thousand troops in order to "fulfill NATO obligations and respond to growing security challenges."

According to Karel Rzechka, commander of the Czech army, in order to fulfill its defense obligations, Prague needs to increase the number of armed forces by 14,000 people — by about 60% — over the next decade. The shortage of personnel remains a critical problem.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on February 19 that Europe should put money on the table and start investing more in defense if it wants the world to take it seriously. At the same time, he clarified that he supports an increase in military spending both at the national and pan-European levels.