Central European Civil-Military Relations and NATO Expansion - Chapter VII

Title: Central European Civil-Military relations and NATO expansion - Chapter VII

CHAPTER VII: THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech National Council passed a resolution assuming responsibility for affairs of the republic on 19 November and adopted a constitution on 16 December 1992 by vote of 172 to 16 with 10 abstentions. Its preamble, in contrast to Slovakia, emphasizes the civil rather than national aspect of citizenship. Legislative power is vested in a bicameral parliament; a 200-member Chamber of Deputies with four-year terms and an 81-member Senate elected for a six-year term (one-third every two years). Since the Czech Parliament rejected the proposal that federal deputies be transferred to the Senate, it remained unoccupied through 1994. Constitutional amendments require a three-fifths majority of all deputies of the Chamber of Deputies and of all members of the Senate present.

The president, as commander-in-chief, is elected by simple majority of both chambers of parliament for a five-year term. The powers of the Czech president, in contrast to the strong CSFR president, are more like the German-model; the president represents symbolic and moral authority. The government is the supreme executive power. Although the president appoints members of government, it is at the suggestion of the prime minister, who determines the government's composition (see Table 11 below). The president appoints the Constitutional Court of 15 judges for ten-year terms with Senate approval. Constitutional amendments require three-fifths of all deputies.

On 26 January 1993, 109 (of 200) Parliamentary deputies elected Vaclav Havel the Czech Republic's first president.

Table 11 - Czech Reform, 1993

Vaclav Havel's actual powers as president of the Czech Republic are much more limited than those he held under the former CSFR Constitution in that he no longer has the right to put forth legislative initiatives. Article 62 outlines his independent powers, which on close examination are quite limited, and Article 63 outlines those powers limited by prime ministerial signature. One potential problem is Article 63(c) which declares the president "supreme commander of the armed forces" but still requires him to get prime ministerial approval for his actions as well as his power to commission and promote generals [Article 63(g)].

In sum, his powers are limited and can be the cause of confusion during an emergency.

Despite the fact that the State Defense Council (ROS) had no legal basis in the Czech Constitution, the President's office initially named members anyway.

These include the prime minister, ministers of finance, foreign affairs, defense, interior, industry and trade, environment, and military officers from the Office of the President, Government, and General Staff. President Havel noted that: "According to Article 63 of the Constitution, the President has the right to exercise legal powers which are not expressly defined in a constitutional law, if the law so stipulates."

In March 1993 the Government Office for Legislature and Public Administration declared that the State Defense Council could not exist as a state agency, but it could act as a consultative body to the president.

As a result, the State Defense Council no longer exists.

Constitutional politics. In contrast to Slovakia, Czech constitutional politics have been relatively calm. This was, in part, due to the ongoing strength of the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) led by Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus which controlled 105 seats of the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies. (Deputies from the June 1992 Czech National Council were reassigned to the Chamber of Deputies). The Senate, though, was not filled, because of a difference of opinion as to whether Senators from the CSFR Senate should be coopted to fill the body (opposed by the Civic Democratic Alliance (CDA) and failed a vote because it required a two-thirds Chamber of Deputies majority), or abolish the Senate (which was rejected on March 24, 1993). The Chamber of Deputies therefore fulfills the duties of the Senate until that body will be elected (Article 106, Secs. 2-3).

During the first months of 1994 the Senate remained an issue. The opposition Social Democrats and the Communists wanted to abolish the Senate. Vaclav Klaus' ODS wanted the Senate elections to take place in 81 single-member districts; the CDA as well as two Christian parties [Christian Democratic Party (ChDP) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU)] wanted to organize 27 electoral districts, with the top three vote-getters in each district becoming senators. Despite these differences, the ODS-CDA-ChDP-CDU coalition remained stable. On 27 September 1994 the Parliament rejected a constitutional amendment abolishing the Senate.

Military. On 4 January 1993 Antonin Baudys (of the Christian Democratic Union) became the Czech Republic's first defense minister. He immediately announced that "no major changes have been made in the Army since 1989"

and therefore radical steps would be needed to adjust the structure and size of the defense ministry and Army to meet needs of integration into the European defense system. Baudys also retained former CSFR Chief of General Staff and Deputy Defense Minister Karel Pezl in the Czech defense ministry and established a commission to work out a Concept for the Czech Army, which must be prepared on the basis of a new military doctrine and on the future integration of the Czech Republic into European defense structures.

Baudys noted that the draft would be available for the Parliament to debate and consider.

Baudys wanted to delineate responsibility between the General Staff, which needs to be concerned with command, and the civilian defense ministry, which is concerned with equipment allocation and supply, management of production enterprises, and foreign contacts. Also noting that many qualified younger officers had been leaving the military, Baudys charged First Deputy Defense Minister Jiri Pospisil to establish a new personnel system within the Army.

The defense minister envisaged, with Parliament's participation, that "screening" or interviews and tests of aptitude would be necessary for service in the new Czech Army.

On 17 May 1993 the defense ministry issued the order to begin screening of 28,000 professional soldiers by the end of the year. Baudys indicated that officers who participated in the purge of the armed forces after 1968 or in the clamp down on demonstrations in 1989 would be fired. In addition, personnel reductions would require 8,000 to 10,000 professionals to leave the armed forces or retire.

Though the Parliament Defense and Security Committee criticized the process and results, when the screening had been completed, it concluded that the majority of the Army's officers would defend the sovereignty of the Czech Republic.

On 1 January 1993, the Czech Republic Army comprised 106,447 (69,488 in the Army and 36,959 in Air Force and Air Defense).

In his first meeting with the Czech Parliament Defense and Security Committee, Baudys argued that the Czech Army's weapons must be replaced to approach Western standards and noted that the ministry was drafting a concept for reequipping the Army.

At its first (29 April 1993) session the State Defense Council (ROS) recommended that the government approve (which it did on 9 June) a draft of the new Czech Army structure. The goal was to build down those forces to roughly 65,000 and to restructure those forces according to a brigade system.

By the end of 1995, the Czech ground forces will have been restructured. The 28,000-man brigade-based Army will be divided into an Expedition Army Force, a 15-brigade Territorial Defense Force, and a Rapid Deployment Brigade that would train for specific cooperation with foreign (specifically NATO) forces.

In addition, there will be an Air Force and Air Defense troops. The Czech forces will have different equipment than Hungary and Slovakia, which acquired MiG-29s from Russia as part of their debt consolidation. The Czechs made a conscious decision not to buy MiG-29s nor to re-equip their Army with Russian or Ukrainian equipment. In fact, during 1994 they decided to ground their MiG-29s and, instead, to use MiG-23s until 1999 and to modernize their 36 MiG-21s.

The Czech Army also intends to buy 72 Czech-made L-159 interceptors (to replace its MiG-21 and MiG-23s) produced by Aero Vodochody between 1998-2004.

On 1 July 1993 MG Jiri Nekvasil replaced Karel Pezl as chief of staff of the Czech Army. In contrast to all other Central European general staffs, the Czech General Staff had been so transformed that Nekvasil noted in a July interview that "there are none of the original principal officers anymore."

In an effort to return the Army to the people, on 19 August 1993 Nekvasil apologized to the citizens of the Czech Republic for the role played by the Army in suppressing demonstrations in August 1969; he openly conceded that the Army had been used against the people by the former Communist Party and that he would declassify secret documents on 20 August.

During September 1993 when Yeltsin dissolved the Russian Parliament, Defense Minister Baudys argued that the situation should not be dramatized or exaggerated. Baudys argued that a normal development could be expected, as long as armed forces do not intervene. At a 23 September news conference, Jiri Nekvasil announced that he had ordered the intensification of military intelligence.

As the Russian situation degenerated in early October, Havel, Klaus, and Baudys all went on public record that Russia posed no direct threat to the Czech Republic.

With NATO's introduction of Partnership For Peace (PFP) Baudys noted that all exercises undertaken by the Czech Army will be subject to the consent of parliament. Article 43 of the Czech Constitution allows for Czech forces to operate outside Czech territory only with consent of both houses of parliament. Article 39 provides foreign troop presence on Czech soil to be approved by a majority of the Senate.

On 29 April 1994, the parliament approved the government proposal to permit short-term military training and exercises on Czech soil (5,000 foreign troops for up to 21 days) and for Czech units to participate abroad (700 troops for up to 30 days).

On 10 March 1994 Vaclav Klaus signed the PFP general agreement making the Czech Republic the 11th country to join the project. Defense Minister Baudys noted of the program that, "it is the maximum possible and the minimum desired."

The first joint exercise with a Western Army under PFP took place 15-25 March 1994 when 32 Dutch marines participated with 120 members of the Czech Rapid Deployment Battalion on Czech soil. In 29 May-10 June, 130 French troops participated in exercises in the Czech Republic with 120 members of a company of the 23rd Czech Mechanized Battalion.

During 9-19 September, a platoon of 40 soldiers of the Czech 4th Mechanized Regiment participated in "Cooperative Bridge-94" in Poland.

The first joint Czech-German military exercise of 400 troops took place during 7-11 November on both sides of the common border.

On 9 May, the Czech Republic signed its associated partnership agreement with the WEU.

The Rapid Deployment Brigade, which has some 3,000 men and became operational on 1 July 1994, represents the model of the Czech Republic's future forces. The equipment of this brigade will be compatible with NATO and its units will participate in NATO exercises. Though the Czech Parliament reduced the 1994 defense budget to 27 billion korunas (Kc), it reoriented priorities and included new line-item expenditures of Kc800 million for creating the Rapid Deployment Force, Kc50 million for restructuring the logistics system, and Kc300 million for modernizing communications.

By spring 1994 the former six-tier organization of the Army began merging into three levels--General Staff, army corps, and brigades. General Nekvasil noted that the Rapid Deployment Brigade would be completed on 30 June 1994; adding that training with Dutch soldiers in PFP was useful in developing standards for the Brigade.

The Air Force went through similar change; of 400 aircraft, 77 combat aircraft (including the 10 MiG-29s), 20 trainers, 10 transports, and 20 transport helicopters were put out of service (a full one-third). According to General Pavel Strubl, the Czech Air Force chief, this "shock therapy was necessary because without radically limiting the bloated Air Force, where almost all costs are expenditures on the operation of the aging fleet, the Air Force would gradually become extinct."

On 22 September 1994 Vilem Holan succeeded Antonin Baudys as defense minister. Shortly after assuming office, Holan criticized the Army vetting that occurred under Baudys, claiming that only sixty people did not pass the screening.

Holan argued that his priorities would be military education and to change the structure of the officers corps because "there are too many high-ranking officers."

After a few months in office, Holan saw defense ministry challenges in the following two areas. First, he continued to see the need to change the personnel management system. He noted that he had set up personnel board to establish criteria and guidelines for career paths for military promotion. Second, he wanted to break through the "impediments in legislation" and adopt a Law on the Army, a Law on the Conditions of Service, and a new Defense Law.

In reference to NATO membership Defense Minister Holan noted that "it is possible to anticipate that the conditions for NATO membership will be clearly defined in the near future--that is, certain standards will be drawn up...[adding] the 'cheap' phase of our decisions is coming to an end, and the phase that will cost us something is beginning."

Indeed, projected costs of modernization were as high as 120 billion korunas (Kc) ($4.4 billion) beginning 1995 to the year 2005; to include Kc15 billion for small arms and anti-tank weapons, Kc33.6 for Air Force acquisitions (to include 72 L-159 aircraft from Aero Vodochody for Kc15 billion),

Air Defense spending of about Kc10 billion, and Kc10 billion for radars and computer equipment.

Deputies of the Parliament's Defense and Security Committee in late November asked Holan to freeze the modernization of the 36 MiG-21 aircraft. Deputy committee chairman Tomas Fejfer stated that "to be able to...give so much money for the project, we need complete and exhaustive information on this... matter."

According to the Acquisition Plan for the Czech Army's Development, adopted in November 1994, apart from linguistic ability of the officer corps, the priority is to acquire a computer system that would be capable of communicating with NATO, for which it earmarked Kc6 billion for 1995.

In mid-December 1994, the government approved a document entitled "Military Strategy of the Czech Republic" which noted that the Army must be able to face danger on its own, but that a small Army has its limits. Thus, the Czech Republic seeks membership in alliances, specifically NATO. The document also described the structure of the Armed Forces; that the army should be nonpartisan, semi-professional, and subject to public and parliamentary control.

President Vaclav Havel in his New Year's address called on the Czech Parliament to pass a law that would finally enable a Senate to be created in the Czech Republic. Later in the month, after an informal meeting with senior Czech Army officers Havel noted that: "I realize that, after all these complicated changes, the Army is led by a relatively good team of younger generals who are willing to build the democratic army of a democratic state."