Prague, Sept 7 (CTK) – The lower house of Czech parliament ratified the Czech-Slovak treaty of cooperation on mutual protection of airspace on Thursday, which means that the treaty only needs to be signed by President Milos Zeman.
Seventy-three out of 104 MPs present supported the treaty in the vote on Thursday and nobody voted against it.
In July, the upper house of Czech parliament ratified the treaty thanks to which the air forces of the two countries can guard their airspace together. The Slovak parliament did so in June.
The Czech and Slovak defence ministers, Martin Stropnicky and Peter Gajdos, signed the treaty in February, after the Slovak and Czech governments approved it.
The ratification process is to be completed with the presidents of the two countries adding their signatures under it.
The bilateral agreement will allow pilots to interfere in the territory of the other country even with arms if terrorists kidnapped a civilian plane or if they wanted to launch an attack with it.
If one of the countries was unable to protect its airspace, the other would assist it, under the treaty.
The Czech air force uses Gripen fighters, while Slovakia has older Russian-made MiG-29s. Gajdos said previously that this was no obstacle to the cooperation.
The cooperation between Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be broader than the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS), which is designated for protection against military threats. The Czech air force participates in it with two Gripen fighters that are under NATO command.
