A few days before NATO top in the hedge, the 32 Alliance statements have reached an agreement on the planned new target for the minimum height of national defense expenditure. For many countries, new, also required by US President Donald Trump, is a huge challenge.
As the German news agency has learned after the end of a written decision-making process, the Allies want to be at the top of increasing their annual defense-relevant costs to at least five percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
An amount of at least 3.5 percent of GDP must be paid to traditional military expenses. Moreover, the costs for combating terrorism and militarily usable infrastructure will also be credited. This can, for example, be investments in railway lines, tank -compatible bridges and extensive ports.
The period is 2035
The year 2035 would be the deadline for the fulfillment of the new goal for Defense spending, as shown, according to diplomats from the text for the planned declaration of closing NATO -TOP.
At present, the NATO -target for Defense expenditure only offers an annual national expenditure of at least two percent of GDP. The reason for the now agreed increase is in particular the threats of Russia, but also the requirements of US President Donald Trump that Europeans should take the most important responsibility for conventional deterrence and defense on their continent in the future.
Trump threatened to leave
In his first term, the US president repeatedly had the defense expenditure of the European allies insufficiently criticized and accused them of trusting the protection of the United States. He even threatened to leave NATO from the United States several times. In the past few weeks it was repeatedly said that Trump may not travel to NATO top if there was no agreement on the goal of five percent.
Resistance of Spain
Recently, only Spain had resisted NATO countries. For various countries, compliance with the new goal is a huge challenge – even if it only has to be achieved in 2035. In the past year, Germany only came with a quota of around 2.1 percent.
The new goal should only be relatively unproblematic for the United States itself and countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Greece. They already have a classic defense expenditure of more than three percent. Last year Poland was the leader with a GDP quota of 4.1 percent. According to allies, the United States recently had a GDP quota of approximately 3.4 percent.
The text for the latest explanation of NATO top for Ukraine should be sobering. According to the text that has now been agreed, she is only vaguely promised to continue the support. Last year NATO of Ukraine was guaranteed to have a security support of 40 billion euros at the top in Washington. At that time it was also said that her path was irreversible for membership. Due to the resistance in particular in the United States, such formulations could no longer be repeated.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
