Joint press conference

President Pavel,
Dear Petr,

Welcome back to NATO Headquarters.
It’s really a great honour and pleasure to welcome you here.
And congratulations on your election as President of the Czech Republic.

We worked very closely together over your tenure as Chair of the NATO Military Committee.
So you are a strong supporter of our transatlantic Alliance.
And you know NATO inside and out.

So it is really a pleasure to welcome you now in your new capacity as President.

Czechia makes valuable contributions to our shared security.

In response to Russia’s brutal war of aggression, you have stepped up to protect other NATO Allies, and to support Ukraine.

Czechia has provided critical military equipment to Ukraine, including tanks, helicopters and air defence missiles.
And you host hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

You lead NATO’s new battlegroup in Slovakia, helping to deter any aggression.
And you contribute forces to our battlegroups in Latvia and Lithuania.

Your forces also serve in NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, and our capacity-building mission in Iraq.

We just discussed our support for Ukraine.

Though Russian forces continue to sustain significant losses, President Putin shows no signs of preparing for peace.

He thinks he can outlast Ukraine’s resistance and Western support.

So we must continue to prove him wrong.
And provide the Ukrainians with what they need to prevail. 

I welcome Czechia’s continued support, including through NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine.

In our meeting today, we also addressed the challenges posed by China.
And I welcomed Czechia’s new strategy on the Indo-Pacific.

China’s coercive policies are a concern for us in the Euro-Atlantic, just as for our partners in the Indo-Pacific.

China challenges our interests, security and values.

China is also growing closer to Russia – refusing to condemn its illegal war against Ukraine, and echoing Russian propaganda about the West. 

So it is important that we continue to work together as Allies, and with like-minded partners around the globe.
To stand in defence of our values, and the rules-based international order.

So President, thank you for your excellent discussion and meeting today.
And for Czechia’s strong contributions to NATO.

I look forward to continue to working with you. Please.

NATO Deputy Spokesperson Dylan White: We'll start with Czech Television, third row, please.

Czech Television: Thank you. Good afternoon. I've got two questions on the Summit in Vilnius in July. First of all, there has been some discussion on defence expenditure. Secretary General, you've said several times that the ambition of Alliance should be higher than 2% of GDP. Do you consider this realistic, to expect countries to raise their expenditure - including the Czech Republic?
And the second one concerns Ukraine's membership in NATO. I would like to ask President Pavel if he would support giving Ukraine some clear perspective of getting closer to NATO or clear perspective of membership in July in Vilnius. Thank you.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: So on defence spending, I would like to say that it is obvious that we need to invest more in defence. Because we live in a more dangerous world, and we see the will of President Putin to use force against neighbours. And of course, NATO has implemented two tasks when it comes to the Russian war against Ukraine. One is to support Ukraine. That requires resources, but also to prevent escalation beyond Ukraine, and that requires increased deterrence and defence and more military presence of NATO troops in the eastern part of the Alliance and higher readiness, more forces, as we have been able to develop over the last years. But we need more, and therefore we also need to invest more.

Of course, it is for the leaders when they meet in Vilnius to make the final decisions on NATO's Defence Investment Pledge. But I have called for a stronger pledge, not necessarily via changing the number 2%, but [by] changing the commitment from the current commitment - which is strive to, move towards 2%, referring to 2% as a kind of ceiling - and change 2% into something which is a floor, minimum. And also then be very specific on the capabilities we expect Allies to deliver, which for many Allies will require more than 2%. So decisions will remain active in the summit. But my recommendation is that we are strengthening the commitment by turning the 2% into a minimum, a floor that all Allies need to meet immediately.

President of Czechia Petr Pavel: Years ago, in this building, we discussed with Secretary General the three C's: Cash, capabilities and contributions. And at that time, most of the attention was linked to cash, that means spending 2% or striving to get closer to 2%. We were advocating quite a number of times that we should pay much more attention to capabilities and contributions - especially capabilities, because they are the substance of the 2%.

The goal is not to spend 2% on defence, but the goal is to have our militaries ready to defend our countries against any potential threat. That means that if we focus today much more on real capabilities, when capabilities are linked to the plans, to the readiness levels, it is much more appropriate, and it will also give the governments better arguments why we need to spend 2%, or at least 2% for our defence.

Czech Republic is ready to meet the commitment made in Wales in 2014 to spend at least 2% on defence in 2024. But we are also open to discussion to spend more if necessary, and it will be linked to the capability issues.

When it comes to Ukraine and potential membership: First, there is no different view from the view and from the promise made in Bucharest. Both Ukraine and Georgia were told that they would become members of NATO. At this point, it is extremely difficult to talk on concrete dates of membership, when Ukraine is in war. So first, the war has to come to an end. And then we can start thinking about potential dates. And even when the war is over, Ukraine will have to reconstitute their economy, their military, to become a stable country again. So it will take time, it will take a lot of effort - a lot of common effort. And I understand that we are all ready to provide long-lasting support to Ukraine, including reconstitution and preparation for future NATO membership.

Deputy Spokesperson White: We have time for just one more, we’ll go to Politico.

Lili Bayer (Politico): Thank you very much. I have a question to you both. The question is: several European countries have recently banned the import of Ukrainian grain. Are you concerned at all that this could be a sign of growing war fatigue? And if so, are you worried that this sort of fatigue could then cross over to the domain of military assistance and defence?

Secretary General Stoltenberg: So first of all, I think what we see across Europe and also North America, across all the Alliance, is an enormous will to support Ukraine. Unprecedented level of military support, financial support, economic support. In total, NATO allies have provided 150 billion euros of economic support to Ukraine, out of which roughly 65 billion euros or so is military support.

European Allies and North American Allies and partners have also imposed severe economic sanctions on Russia. Then, of course, we have seen some of the challenges that some Allies have addressed as a consequence of some of the grain and food that has been then re-located not to be transported over the Black Sea but on land through a European and NATO Allies.

This is not for NATO to address. It's something which has been discussed in the European Union and with individual countries in Europe. I'm confident that there are ways to address those challenges, because I also really believe that the will across Europe to continue to support Ukraine is enormous, partly because it is a moral issue that when a sovereign independent nation in Europe is attacked by another state in a brutal war of aggression, then it's the morally right thing to support them.

Second, it is in our security interest to support Ukraine. Because if President Putin wins, it will make the world more dangerous. The message to him and to other authoritarian leaders is that when they use military force they get what they want, and that will make the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable.

And thirdly, I really believe that people care. So when Europeans and people all over the Alliance in North America and all over the whole world see that civilians are killed, that women are raped and that children are forcibly abducted, taken away from their parents, then they care.

So yes, this is an issue that has to be addressed, but I don't think it reflects any lack of will and readiness to continue to support Ukraine.

Czech President Pavel: War fatigue is a natural phenomenon. It comes with time and not only for the countries actually fighting the war, but also for all the countries supporting those two. But on the other hand, I'm happy that you all understand that there is no alternative to supporting Ukraine. Because the alternative to it is the success of Russia. And that would mean many more problems for us, potentially even more serious, than we face today. So support of Ukraine is a must, and we have to be consistent in maintaining sufficient public support in our countries, explaining to people what kind of threat we would face if we stopped supporting Ukraine.

Deputy Spokesperson White: I’m afraid that’s all we have time for. Thank you very much.

Question 3: [Request for comment on activities in North Sea]

Secretary General Stoltenberg: I can only say that, first of all, there are ongoing national investigations, and therefore I won't speculate about the specific incidents or ships or capabilities.

Second, NATO has addressed threats against undersea infrastructure for many, many years. After the sabotage against North Stream pipelines, we stepped up our presence, both in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, with ships, planes, and other capabilities.
And thirdly, we have established now a cell at the NATO headquarters to coordinate efforts by NATO Allies. And we have tasked our military authorities also to provide advice on how we can further strengthen our protection of undersea infrastructure pipelines, cables, internet connections, which are - we speak about thousands of kilometres - and of course, it is extremely important to be able to protect this. And this is an initiative taken by the Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Støre, and we're following up on that now.

This is partly about strengthening NATO and what we do - surveillance, intelligence - but also what individual allies are doing. Typically the infrastructure goes from one NATO Ally to another through international waters, but also how we can work more closely with the private sector. Because the pipelines, the cables, most of this undersea infrastructure, offshore infrastructure is owned by private companies, and they have capabilities which are useful also when it comes to protecting this infrastructure. So this is something which is high on the NATO agenda.

Deputy Spokesperson Dylan White: Thank you very much.