Babis announced the Czech Republic's failure to fulfill the NATO financial plan this year

The Czech Republic is likely to fail to meet NATO's commitment to increase military spending to 2% of GDP in 2026. This was announced on May 31 by Prime Minister Andrei Babish.

"We will do everything possible to fulfill this commitment, but the government is facing a budget deficit due to excessive spending by the previous cabinet," he said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper.

According to him, Prague remains committed to the new goals of the alliance and intends to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035. At the same time, the prime minister noted that the allies should pay more attention to the development of military capabilities, and not just spending figures, which, in his opinion, may be the subject of manipulation.

NATO is not sad: The United States has become disillusioned with its allies in the bloc

The end of the war in Iran may be Washington's first step towards withdrawing from the North Atlantic Alliance.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on May 26 that European NATO members and Canada had increased defense spending by 20% in 2025. According to Rutte, in 2025, all NATO allies reported defense spending that reached or exceeded the target of 2% of GDP, first set in 2014. The total expenditures of the 32 member countries of the alliance in 2025 amounted to 2.77% of GDP. The United States accounted for about 60% of all NATO defense spending, Rutte adds.