PRAGUE, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic is "certainly not" setting a path to reach higher defence spending levels despite rising NATO targets, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday, marking a clear departure from the previous government's policy.
Babis' government, led by his populist ANO party, took power in December and is pushing a re-worked 2026 budget plan through parliament. It has faced some criticism over lower defence spending, however.
Babis said before last year's election that a NATO agreement to gradually raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product was unrealistic.
Asked in an online interview on Thursday on news server Denik.cz if the government was on a path to a core defence spending target of 3.5% of GDP set in the NATO agreement, Babis said: "Certainly not."
"Our priority is the health of our citizens, so that they live long lives," he said.
Babis won last year's election with promises to concentrate more on people's standard of living by boosting wages, cutting some taxes and adding new benefits.
The new government's 2026 budget proposal cuts spending on defence to 2.1% of GDP versus the previous centre-right cabinet's plan for 2.35% - a plan Defence Minister Jaromir Zuna said on Wednesday would not hurt army modernisation projects.
The previous administration - a staunch supporter of Kyiv in the Ukraine-Russia war - had sought for defence spending to gradually rise to 3% of GDP by 2030. Its former prime minister, Petr Fiala, said in reaction to Babis' comments on Thursday that security should be a leading concern for the government.
The new government has continued a Czech-led initiative sourcing large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine and financed by donations from countries like Germany. But it has stopped providing budget funds itself to the programme.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
