On February 16-17th, Minister of Defence Jana Černochová attended the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting in Brussels for the first time. The primary topic that dominated the two-day series of sessions was the security situation in Europe and particularly in and around Ukraine.
NATO Defence Ministers issued an official declaration expressing their support to Ukraine, calling on Russia to deescalate the situation and manifesting a united NATO position. They agreed it was in the interest of all to avoid further escalation and an armed conflict, which would be devastating for Ukraine and would significantly impact the Czech Republic too. At the same time, the declaration displayed the Ministers’ will to attain a diplomatic solution to this crisis and to strengthen the capabilities in NATO’s Eastern Flank, should that be needed.
“We have deployed our service members in Latvia and Lithuania for NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) for several years already and our Gripen fighters will provide air policing coverage to the Baltic countries from April through July this year. We will discuss further possibilities with our military leaders for the Czech Republic to table additional options of assistance we can provide as a NATO Ally,” Minister Černochová said.
Sharing the burden in NATO nations’ defence spending is an equally important subject in the current situation. In her intervention, the Minister introduced the Czech Government’s key plans for defence.
“I reassured our Allies that it is a key priority for our new Government to reach the 2% GDP benchmark in defence spending by 2025. I also highlighted that we are working to deliver our commitment to build a heavy brigade equipped with tracked infantry fighting vehicles,” Minister Černochová explained and went on to say that she would seek to enhance recruitment and amend the Constitution of the Czech Republic for the Czech Armed Forces to have more flexibility in deploying forces for foreign operations.
NATO Ministers also had a joint session with the representatives of the European Union and partners from Finland and Sweden. The NATO-EU cooperation strengthens on a sustained basis and will be one of the key linchpins of defence activities in the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second semester of this year. The current escalated situation caused that session to entertain a united position on the Russian aggression against Ukraine too.
The discussions covered NATO’s new Strategic Concept to be adopted at the NATO Summit in Madrid at the end of June this year. Ministers agreed that collective defence remained NATO’s primary mission to be reflected throughout the Strategic Concept. Cyber security, countering hybrid threats and developments in Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) have to be consistently addressed as well. The Czech Republic will support the new Strategic Concept by holding the final seminar on its development, which will take place in Prague on March 28th.
Bilateral discussions represent an important element of the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting. Minister Černochová had calls with her Georgian and Slovak counterparts.
In session with the Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze, she expressed solidarity and support to Georgia’s territorial integrity. They also discussed options to enhance the high standards of cooperation in training. The country is to host the NATO-Georgia exercise later this year with planned participation of Czech service personnel. The meeting also saw the signature of the 2022 Bilateral Cooperation Plan.
With the Slovak Minister Jaroslav Naď, Minister Černochová discussed the domain of industrial cooperation, where manufacturers of the L-39NG training aircraft and 8x8 armoured trucks by Tatra Defence Vehicle are bidding in tenders in Slovakia, the latter with the support of the Czech Intergovernmental Defence Cooperation Agency (AMOS). Coupled with the current security situation, those will be the primary topics on the agenda of Minister Černochová’s working visit in Slovakia in mid-March.
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