Socialisti.sk Calls for Refusal to Increase Military Spending

Bratislava, December 5 (TASR) - Representatives of the political movement socialisti.sk (Socialists) urge Slovak political leaders to refuse to increase the military spending to two percent of GDP over the next five years, as discussed by representatives of NATO countries at the London summit, TASR learnt on Thursday. "It is not in Slovakia's interest to increase spending on armaments, because we need the money to finance health care, education, housing for young families and address the environmental crisis," said party leader Eduard Chmelar, calling on President Zuzana Caputova and Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. "Already today we spend 1.74 percent of GDP on defence, while the richest European country Germany promised to spend on defence only 1.5 percent of GDP by 2024," said Chmelar. According to him, increasing defence spending to the level of Western countries is self-serving and a manifestation of militarism. Commenting on the London NATO summit, he noted that the North Atlantic Alliance is turning into a dangerous, aggressive and outdated organisation that, contrary to the calls of moral authorities around the world, advocates an increase in armaments while Pope Francis calls for a ban on nuclear weapons. am/mcs