Nato chief urges European allies to ramp up defence spending
4 December 2024, 14:44
Mark Rutte’s call comes as the world prepares for a second Donald Trump presidency in the US.
Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte has led a fresh push for European countries to ramp up defence spending, a budget shortfall that President-elect Donald Trump previously used to berate America’s allies during his first term in office.
After Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula a decade ago, Nato leaders agreed to halt the defence cuts that began when the Cold War ended and to move toward spending 2% of GDP on their military budgets.
Since Russia launched its full-fledged invasion almost three years ago, the leaders have agreed that the 2% target should be the floor, rather than the ceiling, for defence spending.
NATO Foreign Ministers wrapped up two days of #ForMin meetings where they addressed:
🔹 Support for Ukraine🔹 The situation in Ukraine and the Middle East🔹 Russia’s malign activities on NATO territory
Read the full wrap up story ⤵️
— NATO (@NATO) December 4, 2024
US allies combined are able to meet that figure collectively, but around a third of the members do not do so individually.
Mr Trump, who takes office on January 20, has threatened not to defend “delinquent” countries.
Nato is founded on the principle that an attack on any member must be considered an attack on them all. Mr Trump’s remarks undermined confidence that the US can be counted on in a crisis.
“If you want to keep the deterrence at the present level, 2% (of GDP) is not enough,” Mr Rutte told reporters after chairing a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
“We can now defend ourselves and nobody should try to attack us. But I want that to stay the same in four or five years.”
In July, US President Joe Biden and his Nato counterparts endorsed the biggest shake-up of the way the military alliance would respond to any attack on its territory by Russia since the Cold War. It was meant to deter Moscow from targeting any of the 32 allies.
Under highly secret plans, Nato intends to have up to 300,000 troops ready to move to its eastern flank within 30 days. The plans lay out which allies would respond to an attack anywhere from the Arctic and Baltic Sea region through the Atlantic and east to the Black Sea.
But senior Nato officials concede that countries might have to spend up to 3% of GDP to execute the security blueprint successfully. A new spending target is likely to be announced next year.
Mr Rutte also said Nato might set specific targets for member countries to fill military equipment gaps.
#NATO Allies discussed what more we can do to provide critical ammunition and air defences for #Ukraine .
We must do more than just keep #Ukraine in the fight.
We must provide enough support to change the trajectory of this conflict. #ForMin pic.twitter.com/7zotzjuU5G
— Mark Rutte (@SecGenNATO) December 4, 2024
On his last visit to Brussels for a Nato meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “this is a time for every ally to lean in, not lean back”.
The United States is by far the organisation’s most powerful member country.
“A stronger Nato means more capabilities to deter aggression, more effective allies to meet more complex challenges, and the peace and stability that allows our people to pursue fuller lives,” Mr Blinken said.
Mr Rutte also underlined the importance of expanding Europe’s defence industry, with incentives to drive companies to set up more production lines and hire more workers to staff them, as Western support for Ukraine drains armament stocks.
“We are producing not enough at too high prices, and the delivery is too slow,” he said.
“We cannot have a situation where we just pay more for the same, and we see large kickbacks to the shareholders.”
Mr Rutte urged the allies “to work closely together to make sure that we produce at a much higher rate and acceptable prices”.
He noted “a number of countries who are now buying South Korean (equipment) because our own defence companies are not producing at a rate we need”.
