Prime Minister Babiš at the NATO Summit: Next year we will increase the defence budget by 36 billion CZK and reach 2% of GDP
On 7 and 8 July 2026, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš attended the North Atlantic Alliance summit in Ankara, Turkey. In the final declaration, the leaders of the 32 member states reaffirmed their firm commitment to collective defence under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and to the transatlantic bond. Prime Minister Babiš stated that the Czech Republic will increase its defence budget by CZK 36 billion next year. The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic attended the Defence Industry Forum in Ankara and a social dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Erdogan. He also spoke at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council and held a series of bilateral meetings.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the Ankara summit was very important. "I view the summit very favourably. It is good that we were here and could explain our position to our alliance partners. Next year, we will increase defence spending by CZK 36 billion and should attain the 2% of GDP goal for the first time. The military will certainly receive more money. We will try to achieve this goal this year as well; we will see if we manage to find additional resources in the budget," the Prime Minister stated.
Accompanied by his wife, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic attended an informal dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Erdogan, where he also met with US President Donald Trump and other leaders. The Prime Minister also took part in the Defence Industry Forum and delivered a speech at the North Atlantic Council meeting.
"I stated that we plan to increase the number of soldiers and active reserves by at least a quarter. Recruitment into the military is going well; in the first six months, we increased the number of soldiers by 2,010," the Prime Minister added. Europe should now focus primarily on developing air defences against ballistic missiles and allocate resources to this end. It is precisely ballistic missiles, as we have seen in the case of Iran, that pose a major problem,” said the Prime Minister. He also emphasised that the Czech Republic would not be contributing to the €70 billion in military aid for Ukraine.
On the sidelines of the summit, Andrej Babiš held bilateral talks with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Rob Jetten; the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša; the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev; and the President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini. The Prime Minister was accompanied in Ankara by Foreign Minister Petr Macinka and Defence Minister Jaromír Zůna.
In the final declaration from the summit, the allies reaffirmed their firm commitment to the Alliance’s collective defence.
