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The Czech Parliament has just been hosting an annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which serves as a consulting body to the alliance. Much of the debate was devoted to the financing of the armed forces at a time of economic austerity. So how can NATO’s defence capabilities be maintained when member states are cutting their defence budgets? That’s a question Czech Radio’s Pavel Novák put to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The Czech government’s austerity measures and budget cuts will not affect the country’s commitments towards NATO, Prime Minister Petr Nečas said. Speaking at a session of NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Prague on Monday, Mr Nečas said budget instability would be a greater threat to the Czech Republic’s defence abilities than the fact the country is not spending the required 2 percent of the GDP on defence. The prime minister also vowed that Czech defence spending will not decrease in the coming years. However, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the levels of defence expenditure by the alliance’s European member states were alarming.

The militaries of NATO member countries should cooperate more after the ISAF mission ends in Afghanistan in 2014, Czech Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Prague on Saturday. He stressed that member countries must not give up their own defence at the time of financial cuts. Deeper cooperation would help NATO members retain their military capabilities, he added. The three-day session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which is a counselling body, began Friday. Committees consisting of delegates from the parliaments of allied countries are discussing current security challenges and international affairs.

Some 208,000 people attended the annual NATO Days air show in Ostrava over the weekend, organizers said on Sunday. The air forces of 19 countries took part in the show, including the US Air Force with two strategic bombers B-52, the British RAF with its Red Arrows acrobatic team as well as the Ramex Delta team of the French Air Force. Visitors could also see Czech army’s Gripen fighters demonstrating in-flight refueling..

Thousands of visitors came to see the annual NATO Days air show, which began in Ostrava on Saturday. The air forces of 19 countries are taking part in the show, including the US Air Force with two strategic bombers B-52, the British RAF with its Red Arrows acrobatic team as well as the Ramex Delta team of the French Air Force. Visitors will also see Czech Gripen fighters that will demonstrate in-flight refueling. The NATO Days continue in Ostrava until Sunday.

The Czech Republic will in early September host a major exercise of NATO’s air forces, a spokeswoman for the Czech Ministry of Defence said on Saturday. The air forces of 17 NATO member states will take part in the exercise which will under command of NATO headquarters in Ramstein, Germany. The planes including A-10 and F-16 of the US Air Force will be based at the Czech Air Force base in Náměšt nad Oslavou. The ministry spokeswoman said the event will be NATO’s only air force exercise this year.

The outgoing ambassador to NATO and his successor have strongly warned against continued decreasing of military expenditures in the Czech Republic and other NATO countries. In an interview for the Czech Press Agency Martin Povejšil said he considers the situation very serious and that the allies would be faced with a real danger if member states continue to decrease their spending. Jiří Šedivý, who will assume the post in September, said the Czech Republic will have to offer other quality ways of participating in NATO activities if spending on defence continues to decrease and the presence in Afghanistan is reduced. NATO recommends its member states to spend about 2 percent of their GDP on defence. Military spending in the Czech Republic last year, for instance, amounted to only 1.15 percent of GDP.

Further restrictions of defence expenditures would jeopardize the safety of the Czech Republic, Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra said Tuesday. Speaking at the Žofín Forum in Prague, Mr Vondra said that soldiers must be properly remunerated for their work and defence should invest only in viable and well thought through projects, particularly with regards to the modernisation of the army. NATO, he said, would in the future be focusing more on defence of its territory and is demanding a minimum contribution of 2% GDP, which the Czech Republic has not fulfilled in recent years. Last year for example, its defence expenditures amounted to 1.15% of GDP.

The lower house on Tuesday approved the government’s foreign missions plan for the next two years. The plan envisages a reduction of troops in Afghanistan and a gradual change of focus from military operations to training of local security forces. The Czech army will maintain 539 troops in Afghanistan next year and 340 in 2014. A maximum of ten soldiers will remain active in Kosovo within the KFOR mission and three soldiers will serve in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Around 40 soldiers will serve in NATO command structures around the world.

The NATO summit in Chicago has approved the setting up of a multinational helicopter training centre based in the Czech Republic. The project, presented together with Croatia, is the Czech Republic’s contribution to NATO’s Smart Defence Initiative. The centre will be used to train the pilots of NATO member states whose militaries are equipped with Russian-made Mi type helicopters. Croatia has offered suitable training ground. The Smart Defence initiative deals with interconnecting different capabilities of member countries to reach higher effectiveness and economy.