Czech ministries to overhaul crisis and defence legislation within a year

The Czech ministries of the Interior and Defence have been tasked by the government to draft legislative changes within the next 12 months aimed at modernising the country's crisis and defence legal framework. The proposed revisions target about 11 statutes, including the security law, armed forces law, conscript law, crisis management regulations and the municipal police act, with the goal of making them more flexible and better suited to contemporary risks, technologies and the possibility of transitioning to a wartime or defence economy.

The government plans to present the draft to the cabinet, allocating a year for ministries to prepare a final report with concrete amendment proposals and recommendations for further steps. The revisions also seek to clarify the definition and declaration procedures for a state of emergency, improve coordination among crisis management bodies, and ensure financing for essential services during extraordinary situations. Defence Minister Jaromír Zůna and Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar highlighted that current regulations, largely based on 1990s legislation, no longer meet modern security challenges.

In parallel, Defence Minister Jaromír Zůna met with his Slovak counterpart Robert Kaliňák to discuss bilateral agreements on military equipment and broader regional defence cooperation, underscoring the Czech Republic's focus on strengthening its security framework both domestically and within the Visegrád and NATO contexts.