Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in NATO:Producers or Consumers of Security?By Andrew A. Michta

So far, these countries have been
most successful in preparing small units
assigned to NATO missions. In effect, one could
argue that each Central European ally has “two
militaries” – the small, better equipped and
NATO compatible force, and the bulk of the
armed forces that have some way to go to meet
NATO standards. This imbalance needs to be
corrected through the greater allocation of
resources and through a personnel policy that
would rotate officers and NCOs with experience
in NATO-compatible units and in NATO
missions to posts in the main armed forces.
The Central Europeans could also
consider further reductions in the size of their
armed forces
beyond what is
currently being
proposed. The
goal should be to
free additional
resources in the
inadequate
defense budgets
for reinvestment in
their modernization programs, thereby, increasing
the overall spending per soldier. Poland’s
target for its armed forces is 150,000 personnel;
Hungary plans redu...