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Czech Defence Minister wants military to increase professional soldiers to 30,000

Xinhua, November 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky said on Sunday on Czech Television that he wants the military to have at least 30,000 professional soldiers and 5000 reservists in the future, for the current goal of 27,000 professionals is low.

Stropnicky said he thought the 30,000 professional soldiers plus at least 5,000 reservists is essentially the minimum.

However, Stropnicky said it is not possible to manage this by 2025. He said it will also depend on the situation on the labor market, because in the regions where there is a higher unemployment rate, the interest in military is bigger.

Stropnicky said it will not be easy for any NATO member state to raise defence spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) until 2025, which they should contribute to the joint defence.

He said he thought an annual increase of defence spending by 10 percent would be appropriate. At the current increase rate in defense spending, the Czech Republic will reach the goal of 2 percent of GDP in 2025, said Stropnicky.

According to data from the beginning of 2016, there were about 22,000 professional soldiers, 6,400 civilian employees and about 1,100 civil servants under the civil service law of Czech Republic. Enditem