Vitaly Saenko20:32, 05.06.25

The Secretary General of the Alliance will propose at the Alliance summit in The Hague to agree on a plan to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP.

Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Mark Rutte has justified the need to increase defense spending in NATO member countries. As reported by a UNIAN correspondent, Rutte said this at a press conference following a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, dedicated to preparations for the Alliance summit, which will take place on June 24-25 in The Hague.

He believes that allies understand the importance of increasing defense spending given the threat from Russia and the rise of China.

“We live in a different world. We live in a more dangerous world. The German defense chief said a few days ago that by 2029 the Russians might be able to organize a successful attack on NATO,” Rutte said.

At the same time, according to him, today the countries of the Alliance are safe, but if they do not increase defense spending, they will not be safe in the foreseeable future.

As Rutte noted, a new defense investment plan must be agreed to ensure that sufficient resources are available for deterrence and defense in this dangerous world. Work on this is underway in preparation for the NATO summit in The Hague. Rutte emphasized:

“I will propose a general investment plan that will amount to 5% of GDP for defense investments.”

Specifically, 3.5% of GDP will be allocated to core defense spending and 1.5% will be allocated to other defense and security-related spending, such as infrastructure and industry.

Rutte was asked what he could say to those people who would rather spend hundreds of billions of pounds on schools, hospitals and roads than on weapons.

The NATO Secretary General noted that the world has changed dramatically in the last few years because of the threat from Russia and its readiness to “take the next step” after all the threats that have emerged in the past years, including after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Rutte noted that the Russians now produce the same amount of basic types of ammunition in a three-month period as, by comparison, the Alliance countries produce in a year. Rutte emphasized:

“If we don’t act now, everything will be fine in the next three years, but we have to start now, otherwise, in 4-5 years we will be in danger.”

NATO rearmament

As UNIAN reported earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth emphasized that NATO member countries can no longer rely on the protection of the United States of America ; they must independently strengthen their defense capabilities.

For the first time since 2014, when NATO adopted its defence funding guidelines, 18 of 32 members spent at least 2% of their GDP on their armed forces, compared with just 11 in 2023.

(c)UNIAN 2025