The Defence Strategy of the Czech Republic 13. The National defence system: The national defence system is part of the security system of the Czech Republic, as set out in the Security Strategy of the Czech Republic. The primary function of the national defence system is to prepare, manage, coordinate and support activities of the relevant authorities, forces and assets in order to ensure the defence of the Czech Republic. This includes early detection, prediction and evaluation of potential threats, including hybrid threats. The national defence system is interlinked with the allied structures. Its operational activities are provided for and controlled by the President of the Czech Republic, Parliament and the Government of the Czech Republic, its various working and advisory bodies, ministries and other central government authorities. The Ministry of Defence is responsible for the process of national defence planning, and its coordination. Dedicated structures to provide direct control of defence are established during a state of national emergency, or in a state of war. The primary executive components of the national defence system are the Armed Forces. Other components include government institutions, regional governments and municipalities, as well as legal entities and natural persons as defined by law. 14. Defence planning: Effective and efficient build-up of defence capabilities accomplished within the framework of the Czech Republic’s defence planning is driven primarily by NATO’s defence planning process and is in tune with the needs of the EU. 15. Resources: A key prerequisite for an effective provision of national defence hinges on the existence of a stable, sustained, and sufficient resource framework. Years of underfunding has left the Czech Armed Forces limited in carrying out their missions in terms of human resources and materiel. The accumulated shortfalls will hamper the development of the capabilities of the Czech Armed Forces for many years to come. Acknowledging the worsening security situation, the Government of the Czech Republic has taken measures to redress the situation and has started increasing defence spending. In line with its NATO commitments, the Czech government will ensure that the defence budget will progressively increase to the level 1.4% GDP by 2020. In line with the conclusions of the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales, the Czech Republic will attempt, over the next ten years, to reach the 2% GDP benchmark for defence spending. It also aims to allocate at least a 20% share of defence spending for procurement and modernisation of major military hardware and equipment. 16. Material support of defence: The Czech government will continue to provide the infrastructure essential to national defence, sufficient material to cater for the defence and mobilisation needs of the Armed Forces, including taking economic measures during a state of crisis, and the development and use of national materiel reserves. 17. Defence system stability: The Czech Government will rigorously oversee the effectiveness of national defence spending and the rationality of the organisational structure of the Ministry of Defence. To achieve the stability associated with the recruitment and manning of army reserves, the government supports purposefully conducted and efficient cooperation with legal entities and citizens, including schools and educational institutions. The Czech government will actively prevent the risk of resource, organisational and personnel destabilisation of the Czech Republic’s national defence system, which would reduce the quality of military personnel, damage the military’s prestige, erode national defence capacity, and weaken the Czech Republic’s credibility and political weight. 18. Intelligence: Current, independent, multi-sourced and wholly objective intelligence represents an irreplaceable element of the planning and development of an effective national defence system. Such 10