NATO weighs boosting defence budget to over 3% of GDP
NATO Chief Mark Rutte admitted that the Alliance must make a tough decision on increasing defence spending. "I expect it to be over 3 percent of GDP, although we are still at an early stage," he stated.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, a Contact Group for Ukrainian Defence gathered on Wednesday. On Thursday, there will be a meeting of the Alliance's defence ministers there.
As Rutte said, one of the most important topics of discussion will be defence expenditures. He noted that in 2024, NATO countries in Europe and Canada invested 485 billion US dollars in defence, which is an increase of almost 20 percent compared to 2023.
- President Trump consistently asked European countries to do more. We made a commitment at the Alliance summit in Wales in 2014 and basically not much happened after 2014," he emphasized. "It really started to develop when he was president in 2016, 2017, and especially in 2018 and 2019, up until today," Rutte said.
"We must continue this. The good thing is that we now have the NATO defence planning process, which will provide clarity on the necessary actions to ensure our security. Then we will see where the gaps are," he remarked.
"Now we will have a debate on how to fill the gap between where we are and where we need to be. I expect it to be over 3 percent, but I am not committing to any number now because we are still at an early stage of accurately estimating the details," he cautioned.
"Our defence is currently strong, but we must make difficult decisions regarding increased spending," assessed the NATO chief.
