The head of NATO is “confident” in an agreement on defense expenses at the NATO / Italy summit says it would need 10 years to comply
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday that it is “quite confident” that the alliance countries will reach an agreement on increasing the defense expenses at the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance of June 24-25. These comments were made in the margin of a meeting in Rome with foreign ministers from the main European economies, who “reaffirmed” in a common press release “commitment to a stronger and more sovereign Europe, capable of defending their citizens and interests,” reports News.ro citing AFP.
In the format called “Weimar”, which includes France, Germany and Italy, Mark Rutte and its European allies discussed their defense expenses before the G7 summit in June 15-17, where Donald Trump will be more aggressive than Russia. This meeting will be followed by the NATO summit in The Hague, on June 24 and 25, where the emphasis will be placed on the goal set by Donald Trump, who asks for Europe and Canada to undertake at least 5% of GDP for defense, otherwise risking to lose their security.
“We will continue to work together to strengthen our security and collective defense and to strengthen the contribution of Europe to NATO,” said France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and UK ministers, along with Mark Rutte and the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, at the end of the Rome meeting. “European countries must play a more important role in ensuring their own security (…) I pleaded for ambitious consolidation of European defense capacities,” they said.
How to reach the target of 5% for defense
The head of NATO wants the member countries to undertake to spend 3.5% of their army GDP in a strict sense and 1.5% for all large-sense security expenses (border protection, cyber security, etc.). “I am quite confident (…) that we will reach a common position” with “the 32 (members)” at the Hague Summit on June 24 and 25, said Mark Rutte. “We are currently talking about the final decision we will make,” Rutte said.
The Secretary General of NATO also described the discussions between Russia and the US as “really crucial”, saying that Donald Trump “came out of the deadlock by starting direct discussions with Vladimir Putin”, at a time to reach a quick agreement on conflict resolution, as Donald Trump hoped.
Italy states it needs at least 10 years to increase defense spending
The Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday that his country needs at least 10 years to increase the defense expenses and comply with the new objectives to be agreed by NATO, adding that an agreement could be concluded soon, reports Reuters.
Italy is one of the countries with the lowest defense expenses within the Western military alliance, spending only 1.49% of the gross domestic product last year, compared to the current 2% objective, according to NATO data.
Rome said that it will respect the 2% objective in 2025, but mainly through a series of accounting changes that add to the defense calculations elements that were not previously included.
“I think we can do a good job with NATO and that we can reach the Hague summit with an agreement prepared in advance, so NATO can demonstrate its unit,” said Tajani, along with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The problem of Italy – a massive public debt
The Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, told Parliament that “it is not possible” for Italy to meet the US for NATO allies to increase their defense budgets to 5% of GDP and said that no 3.5% intermediate objective “is easy to achieve.”
Italy has a limited maneuver margin in terms of expenses, the massive public debt being estimated to increase to almost 138% of GDP in 2026, before decreased slightly in the following year. “We maintain a conservative position in this matter, because we do not want other key investments, such as those in public health or social expenses, to be affected,” Crosetto said, adding that every NATO government will have to discuss commitments for defense expenses with national parliaments.
