NATO plans a new headquarters, the Czech Republic is to contribute half a billion

Prague - The North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) plans to build its new headquarters in Brussels, and the Czech Republic, as a member state, is to contribute a total of about 21 million euros (around half a billion crowns). The amount that the Czech Republic has to pay for the construction between 2008 and 2013 includes a reserve for possible inflation. The material is to be discussed by the government on Monday.
    The shared part of the construction project will be financed from the NATO budget. The costs for the spaces for national delegations will be borne by each country individually.
    The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed ČTK that the shared costs for the construction of the new NATO headquarters will amount to about 1.15 billion euros (nearly 30 billion crowns). "The Czech Republic will cover 1.6 percent of this amount based on a previous agreement," stated spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalová.
    According to her, the construction of the new headquarters of NATO is currently effectively in the planning stage, and not a single spade has been turned in the ground yet. "But it is a relatively large investment that must be discussed by the government in advance," she added.
    The decision to build a new headquarters for the alliance was made at the summit in Washington in 1999. The new headquarters building is to be constructed on the site of a former military airport located near the current NATO headquarters. That has been in operation for four decades and does not meet the current demands of member states. The alliance has significantly expanded since its inception - it now has 26 members, which is twice as many as at the beginning in 1949.