Europe must raise defense spending, use Russian assets for Ukraine, Czech PM says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Members of the Czech Special Forces guard a corner during close-quarters battle (CQB) training during Emerald Warrior 22.1 at Eglin Range, Florida, May 4, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Ridge Shan via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

PRAGUE (Reuters) -     Europe should use money from frozen Russian assets for further military support of Ukraine and relax its fiscal rules to boost defence spending, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Monday.

Czech defence spending must grow to 3% of gross domestic product in several years from around 2% in 2024, to reflect the new geopolitical reality, Fiala said in an address to the nation.

"President (Donald) Trump has decided to completely transform U.S. foreign policy. The speed, thrust and rhetoric are certainly surprising, but the shift of the United States away from focusing on Europe should not surprise us," Fiala said in the speech shown live on television.

"Our fundamental aim now must be a strong Europe. A Europe which can deter Russia from further military attacks on sovereign European states."

Fiala said Europe should relax its fiscal rules to fund defence and also use 93 billion euros ($97.42 billion) from its post-coronavirus recovery funds for defence and related infrastructure.

"For further military support of Ukraine, we must use money from frozen Russian assets from across the entire Europe," he said.

The crisis was making the European Union an even more important alliance than it had been in the past 20 years, Fiala said. But to succeed and boost competitiveness, the EU needs to deregulate and revise its Green Deal decarbonisation policies.

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 (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Bill Berkrot)