NEWTOWN, Conn. - The Czech Republic faces further defense spending reductions as a sluggish economic recovery and the austerity measures of a center-right government combine to place pressure on the armed forces. Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra is warning that further cuts to defense imperil the armed forces, which have seen overall spending drop by CZK12 billion ($689 million), or 20 percent, over the past two years.
The Czech Finance Ministry continues to see defense as an area ripe for savings. It has proposed slicing some CZK2.3 billion ($132 million) from the defense budget in 2012, bringing it down to CZK41.5 billion ($2.38 billion). If such a proposal follows through, the level of Czech investment toward defense would plummet from the current 1.15 percent of GDP to below 1.0 percent. The center-right coalition government of Petr Necas seeks to halve the country's budget deficit by 2013; as part of its plan to do this, defense allocations were to be reduced to 1.03 percent of GDP by that year. The Finance Ministry - aware of the corruption inside the Defense Ministry in the past - seems eager to expedite the government's austerity push, which is intended to put the Czech Republic on a path toward accession into the euro-currency zone.
Defense, meanwhile, is fighting a rearguard action against further cuts, arguing that soldiers are leaving the ranks due to the lack of the most basic needs and the imposition of taxes on their retirement pensions and housing allowances. Defense Minister Vondra has pledged to maintain soldiers' salaries, sparing them from budgetary cutbacks. But by doing so, he merely increases the percentage of monies allocated toward personnel rather than equipment modernization programs. Due to the austerity measures, the military is already ceasing operation of 12 Mi-24/35 and four W-3A Sokol helicopters, as well as one Canadair Challenger 601 VIP aircraft. Also, missile troops are being stood down.
Despite having pledged to meet the NATO minimum standard level of investment - 2 percent of annual GDP allocated toward defense - upon its entry into the Alliance in 1999, the Czech Republic is falling farther and further away from its obligations. Like its former partner, Slovakia, the Czech Republic is in danger of becoming a net dependent upon the Alliance for security, rather than a contributor.
Rallying public support for the military is not an option as, in the case of many European nations, matters of defense generally stoke indifference in the population-at-large - unless related to wasteful spending practices. Government support for defense carries with it political implications, too. Scandals such as mafia involvement in unnecessary and costly construction projects for the Defense Ministry in the 1990s, followed by corrupt procurement practices by a lobby of armaments middlemen, have siphoned away any lingering trust in the competencies and practices inside the Defense Ministry. The overpriced purchase of 107 Pandur II 8x8 wheeled armored personnel carriers represents just the latest in a series of politicized controversial procurement efforts by the Czech Defense Ministry.
While still needing to replace much of its Soviet- and Warsaw Pact-legacy hardware, the Czech military continues to face cutbacks to personnel, bases, and procurement programs, all of which expose the Army of the Czech Republic's goal of achieving full operational capability by 2012 to delays. The military is expected to stop purchasing some spare parts and services, and to buy less ammunition and defense equipment. The withdrawal of the last remaining troops deployed to Kosovo and the gradual drawdown of forces in Afghanistan starting next year may help to alleviate some of the fiscal pressures on defense, but the reality is an atrophying military on life support.
Perhaps now would be the time for the Czech Republic and Slovakia to examine some of the cooperative practices undertaken by the Scandinavian nations under the Nordic Defense Cooperation concept. Shared production and procurement of ammunition and other munitions, joint officer training, pooled maintenance facilities - all of these offer potential areas of cooperation. For the respective defense ministries of the two countries, finding efficiencies during a time of austerity is the best bet for salvaging what remains of their withering armies.
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