Czech president: Europe must reduce defense reliance on US.

European countries should reduce reliance on the U.S. and develop their own defense capabilities, Czech President Petr Pavel said on Oct.

3, Politico reported. "The dominant role of NATO as a security provider must no longer mean that Europe neglects its defense obligations," Pavel said at the College of Europe in Bruges. "Reducing the reliance on the U.S. and developing European strategic enablers is to be seen as our contribution to our transatlantic partnership."

According to Czechia's Head of State, allies will very likely have to increase their defense spending past the 2% benchmark set by NATO.

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While the majority of the alliance's members do not meet this defense expenditures target, the number of those that do is expected to rise to at least 11 this year, compared to only seven in 2022.

Many NATO countries have ramped up their military spending in reaction to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Pavel also voiced support for the enlargement of the alliance, which "should not be postponed until some hypothetical point in the future, where the candidates are perfectly aligned with us." Although Ukraine seeks NATO membership, the alliance has not yet extended a formal invitation.

Instead, the military bloc agreed to tighten cooperation with Kyiv and waived the need for the Membership Action Plan during NATO's Vilnius summit in July.

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Kagan for the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). This analysis was originally published by the ISW on Oct.

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Martin Fornusek

News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press.

He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer.

Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.