NATO chief queries cuts

On a one-day visit to Prague, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen continued his appeal for European leaders to support military and defense despite budget cuts across the Continent.

Rasmussen met with Prime Minister Petr Nečas, Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra and Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg Sept. 7 to discuss Czech participation in NATO, missile defense, the war in Afghanistan and relations with Russia. He had to cancel a meeting with President Václav Klaus to return to Brussels.

In remarks following his meeting with Nečas, Rasmussen talked about his vision for "smart defense," which calls for greater cooperation between alliance members to reduce costs.

"In times of austerity, every euro and every crown counts," Rasmussen said. "We will have to find ways of sharing our resources, so we give our Alliance the capabilities it needs."

The military alliance of 28 states has been hit hard by European austerity measures and shrinking budgets, which some say is severely limiting NATO capabilities, including former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who criticized NATO operations in Libya in June.

"Smart defense is built on the presumption that it would be more effective if nations shared an aircraft carrier - that's the basic idea," said Tomáš Karásek, director of the Association for International Affairs in Prague. "There is no logical argument to separate national militaries when they act together already; we don't go to Afghanistan or Iraq separately."

After the meeting, Nečas said the Czech Republic would continue to meet NATO commitments despite cuts that have slashed defense spending 20 percent in the past two years.

Rasmussen criticized the Czech Republic in July for plans to further decrease defense spending as part of austerity measures meant to cut the national deficit 3.5 percent of GDP in 2012, after cuts this year are expected to bring the deficit down to 4.6 percent of GDP. Money earmarked for the military was 43.8 billion Kč this year, and would be decreased to 41.5 billion Kč based on the proposed 2012 budget.

As a NATO member, the Czech Republic is supposed to keep spending on the defense budget at a minimum of 2 percent of the GDP, but it is currently at 1.1 percent and is likely to decrease further.

"We are not such a big exception. Our situation is quite similar to other members in Western Europe. The Czech Republic is trying to do what it can, but the problem is resources are scarce, and it is difficult for political representatives in favor of maintaining or increasing defense expenditures when you have to make cuts to wages and social subsidies," Karásek said.

This year, the Czech Republic kept its deployment to Afghanistan at 720 troops, though that number will drop to 600 next year when a helicopter unit is withdrawn and further drop to 520 by the end of next year.

Government officials are also debating about whether they should discontinue their super-sonic jet program and use the money to pay soldier salaries instead.  

"It makes really good sense to proceed in this direction, but there are sensitivities, like giving up the supersonic jets in the Czech Republic, and waiting to see who will protect our skies," Karásek said.

More alarming, he said, is the possibility the nation's fleet of attack helicopters would be discontinued, which are more useful in major NATO missions like those in Afghanistan and Libya.

"If we lose those, we are losing our ability to negotiate with our allies about what shape our participation will take in future missions," he said.

Rasmussen also addressed the transparency of procurements in joint purchasing in an interview with the Czech News Agency. Procurement is a major issue for the Czech military, which has a long legacy of corruption scandals involving equipment tenders, a phenomenon that is partially to blame for budget shortfalls, the Defense Ministry has said.

"An efficient and transparent process for procurement is the most important part of the process for sharing capabilities within the alliance," Rasmussen said, adding that NATO would monitor final purchase prices and the tenders.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com