At the NATO office in Brussels, the alleged gathering is held on Wednesday. Ukrainian Defence Contact Group. On Thursday there will be a gathering of the Alliance's defence ministers.
NATO chief: I am not committing to any number now
As Rutte said, 1 of the most crucial subjects of the gathering will be Defence spending. He noted that in 2024 NATO states in Europe and Canada invested $485 billion in defence, an increase of almost 20% compared to 2023.
– President Trump He consistently asked European countries to do more. We made a commitment (at the Alliance Summit) in Wales in 2014 and fundamentally small has happened after 2014," he stressed. “It truly began to make erstwhile he was president in 2016, 2017, especially in 2018 and 2019, until present (...)”, Rutte said.
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– We gotta continue. The good news is, we're on trial now. NATO defence planningwhich will give clarity about the actions needed to guarantee our safety. Then we'll see where the gaps are," he said.
– Now we will have a debate on how to fill the gap between where we are and where we gotta be. I anticipate it to be over 3%, (...) but I will not commit to any number now, due to the fact that we are inactive at an early phase of accurate estimation of details – he reserved.
Which NATO countries spend the least on defense?
On both sides of the Atlantic there are no votes that 2 % of GDP This is not adequate for fresh global threats specified as Russia's aggressive attitude. There's a debate in the Alliance about this. NATO fresh Secretary General Mark Rutte said 3% of GDP in January, and US president Donald Trump stated that he would anticipate from allies up to 5%.
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The biggest problem will be convincing NATO countries that spend far little than 2% of GDP on defence to change their policies. An example is Spain, which spends at least 1.3% of GDP for this intent throughout the Alliance. In 2014, the government in Madrid undertook to scope 2% of GDP by 2024. The current plan predicts that this will happen 5 years later.
Less than 2% of GDP is spent on defence, among others. Portugal, Italy and Belgium.
Polish Defence Expenditure
Poland supports the increase in defence spending. At the end of January Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that in terms of the percent of GDP Poland "is spending the most" for this purpose, and this year it will be close to 5% of GDP.
Last week Minister for abroad Affairs Radosław Sikorski he spoke about this in Brussels with Rutte. On this occasion he told journalists that Warsaw supported the NATO Secretary-General's call to all associate States to rise defence spending not only to 2% of GDP, but besides more.
– 2 percent was good in peacetime. Putin's resources may shrink, he starts to lack, for example, tanks, but his intentions to proceed the war (in Ukraine) are obvious. We can no longer consume dividends for peace, due to the fact that there is simply a war going on," said the head of the Ministry of abroad Affairs.
