THE HAGUE – NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed optimism that the military alliance would reach an agreement on significant spending increases during the “transformational summit” set for Wednesday, as leaders from member countries, including U.S. President Donald Trump, gathered in The Netherlands.
The 32-nation alliance’s leaders are anticipated to set a new defense spending goal at 5% of GDP, with the United States — the highest spender in NATO — redirecting its focus away from Europe toward other security concerns.
“It’s a transformational summit, so I’m looking forward to it,” Rutte remarked to journalists in The Hague before leading the meeting’s sole working session, expected to run under three hours.
But ahead of the meeting, Spain announced that it would not be able to reach the target by the new 2035 deadline, calling it “unreasonable.” Belgium signaled that it would not get there either, and Slovakia said it reserves the right to decide its own defense spending.
Rutte conceded that “these are difficult decisions. Let’s be honest. I mean, politicians have to make choices in scarcity. And this is not easy.” But he said: “given the threat from the Russians, given the international security situation, there is no alternative.”
Other countries closer to the borders of Russia and Ukraine — Poland and the three Baltic countries — have committed to the goal, as have NATO’s European heavyweights Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
On Tuesday, Trump complained that “there’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly.” He has also criticized Canada “a low payer.” In 2018, a NATO summit during Trump’s first term unraveled due to a dispute over defense spending.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the NATO allies agreed to make 2% of GDP the minimum spending level. Last year, 22 countries were expected to hit that target, up from just three a decade ago.
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