NATO member countries are well aware of the need for higher defense spending of 2 percent of gross domestic product, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday, adding that the new target figure “will be clear” next year after talks among alliance members.
“We know we will have to spend more than 2 percent,” Mitsotakis told a news conference after an EU meeting in the far north of Finland on European security, defense and migration.
“It will be clear, when we communicate with the new (US) president, what figure will be that we will agree on within NATO,” Mitsotakis said.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, wants NATO allies to increase their defense spending to more than double the current target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, the Financial Times and Telegraph reported. on Friday.
According to reports, Trump’s team has told European officials that it expects members of the military alliance to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.
Mitsotakis declined to give a specific figure in response to a reporter’s question on the matter. “It will be more than 2 percent. But let’s not put a number on it, because we all have our own national considerations and we must not forget that we work within the European framework,” he said.
“We need to look at all the ways in which we jointly advance European defence,” added Mitsotakis. “We still have to convince our transatlantic partner that we take our own security seriously, because we need our transatlantic partner within NATO.”
European NATO members face increasing pressure to increase defense spending, particularly because of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to attack those who support Kiev. NATO’s new secretary general, Mark Rutte, said earlier this month that alliance members must spend “much more” than 2 percent of GDP on defense.
The North-South Summit in Saariselka, Finland, was convened by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. Among the participants were Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the head of European foreign policy, Kaja Kallas.
“We all agreed that Europe must do more to defend itself and prevent war,” Kallas wrote in a post on X. “Next year we will propose ideas at the EU level for greater defense cooperation, stronger capabilities and funding.”
Kristersson also said that “Europe must take more responsibility for its own security,” in a post on X. The Swedish leader also declined to give a figure for defense spending, saying, “There are a lot of rumors in circulation.”
A June NATO report showed that a record 23 of the alliance’s 32 members met the 2 percent defense spending target.
Mitsotakis added that there is a need to “do more and be smarter in how we allocate defense resources at the national and European level”.
“I advocated greater flexibility, within the new budget rules, in how we deal with defense spending.”
(Vijesti.ba)
