NATO’s 32 allied nations voted to more than double their defense spending target from 2% to 5% at the NATO summit in the Hague. The influence behind the decision happens to be President Donald Trump’s persistent calls for greater burden sharing for collective defense amid rising geopolitical tension. 2035 has been set as deadline to achive this ambitious goal. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, all praises for Trump, labelled the jump as a ‘quantum leap’ necessary for the protection of the one billion citizens of the NATO collective. He said that it reinforces NATO’s commitment to maintaining the sanctity of Article 5. Under NATO’s article 5 all member nations rise in arms if one is threatened. The North Atlantic Treaty organisation was formed to curb growing insecurity among European nations due to USSR’s massive territorial expansion post WWII.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain would spend only 2.1% of GDP since it meets NATO’s primary capability targets. Trump believes that Spain is trying to hitch a free ride and will have to pay it back, after which he threatened to increase the reciprocal tarriffs imposed on the country. The only country that spends more than 4% of it’s GDP for defence is Poland while allies like US, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia spend over 3%. The feasibility of the 5% target is questionable given Europe’s budget constraints. The new target will allocate about 3.5% of a country’s GDP to core security infrastructure. The increased budget was justified as a pre-emptive move after Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.
The Kremlin revealed that it has no plans to attack NATO and that the alliance’s rampant militarisation is making a scapegoat out of Russia. The two day summit reaffirmed support for Ukraine, confirming military aid from their spending targets, though no comment was made on Kyiv’s membership bid.
