"A total of 29 members of parliament from the Communist Party and the Freedom and Direct Democracy voted against the proposal of the Ministry of Defense to increase the number of personnel in Czech units of international military missions, which was approved by the government. The remaining 140 members of the parliament supported this proposal," the statement said.
On May 17, the proposal was supported by the upper chamber of the Czech parliament.
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Currently, the Czech Defense Ministry has a right to deploy 806 troops to international military missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, Kosovo, the Golan Heights and on the Sinai Peninsula. In accordance with the newly approved initiative, the ministry will now be able to increase the number of personnel participating in these missions to 1,081 in 2018 and to 1,191 in 2019.
The Czech mission in Mali will be increased by 70 soldiers, making it a 120-strong contingent, while the one in Iraq will get 45 more and have 110 troops in total.
Czech servicemen will also operate in other countries of the Sahel region.
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In 2019, the Czech Air Force will also take part in patrolling the airspace of the Baltic states as part of a NATO mission, which is handed off on a rotational basis.
In general, the Czech Republic will spend 2.1–2.4 billion Czech krones ($100–114 million) to have its troops participate in international military missions.
