Czech defense minister resigns over possible budget cuts

PRAGUE (AFP) May 29, 2003
Czech Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik resigned Thursday in protest at a possible freeze of an armed forces reform because of budget cuts, he told a news conference.

Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla accepted the resignation, the 34-year-old politician said.

The reform of the Czech Republic's armed forces is aimed at phasing in a more streamlined professional force by 2006.

Tvrdik, who took over the defense ministry in May 2001, said the reform should be reviewed after the planned budget cuts, adding that "the reform in its initial version is not practicable."

He was a member of the cabinet of social democrat former prime minister Milos Zeman and was confirmed in his function in July last year in Spidla's center-left government.

Cuts in the overall budget that have been decided in the last few weeks are to reduce the defense ministry's share to 2.05 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), saving the country some 1.2 billion euros (1.4 billion dollars) by 2008.

An initial draft had earmarked expenses of about 2.2 percent of GDP, Tvrdik said.

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