Nato ministers to discuss defence spending hike before key summit
Image: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Nato defence ministers gathered in Brussels on Thursday to discuss how to meet US President Donald Trump’s demand for significant increases in spending, less than three weeks before a key summit of the alliance in The Hague.
Trump has said Nato allies should boost investment in defence to 5% of GDP, up from the target of 2%.
Diplomats say the European allies understand that hiking defence expenditure is the price of ensuring a continued US commitment to the continent’s security and that keeping America on board means allowing Trump to be able to declare a win on his 5% demand during the summit, scheduled for June 24-25.
“We have to go further and we have to go faster,” Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte told reporters on Wednesday. “A new defence investment plan will be at the heart of the Nato summit in The Hague.”
In a bid to meet Trump’s 5% goal, Rutte has proposed alliance members boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending, Reuters has reported.
Details of the new investment plan will probably continue to be negotiated until the eve of the Nato summit.
“We have to find a realistic compromise between what is necessary and what is possible to spend,” German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday.
Countries remain divided over the timeline for a new pledge.
“There's not unlimited time,” US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker told reporters on Wednesday.
Rutte has proposed reaching the 5% by 2032 — a date some eastern European states consider too distant but which some others see as too early and unrealistic, given spending and industrial production levels now.
A 2032 target is “definitely too late”, Lithuanian defence minister Dovile Sakaliene said on Wednesday, arguing for a target of 2030 at the latest.
There is also an ongoing debate about how to define “defence-related” spending, which might include spending on cybersecurity and certain types of infrastructure.
“The aim is to find a definition precise enough to cover only real security-related investments and also time broad enough to allow for national specifics,” said one Nato diplomat.
Reuters