Kyiv has long sought to join the military alliance but has met resistance from Germany and the United States, even under the Biden administration. The issue has been almost entirely off the table since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Řehka also stressed the Czech Republic has to increase military expenditure to way above 2 percent of GDP, the former NATO target. The country’s defense budget has been at the center of a dispute between Czech President Petr Pavel and populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
Babiš initially decided to cut down military expenditure to 1.8 percent of GDP, despite Prague’s NATO pledge to increase it to 3.5 percent by 2035. However, Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna said earlier this month that Prague plans to boost the country’s defense budget before the NATO summit in Ankara.
“We need to go higher [than 2 percent], otherwise none of the government’s promises about air defense or supporting the defense industry will materialize,” Řehka stressed. “We developed defense plans and we need to fill those plans.”