By Matthew Lee, Lorne Cook and Suzan Fraser
Antalya, Turkey (AP) – NATO Foreign Ministers debated an American demand on Thursday to massively accelerate investment in defense to 5% of the gross domestic product over the next seven years, because the United States focuses on security challenges outside of Europe.
During talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, said that more investment and military equipment were necessary to face the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the subject of American concern.
“Regarding basic defense expenses, we have to do a lot, much more,” Rutte told journalists. He stressed that once the war in Ukraine completed, Russia could reconstruct its armed forces within three to five years.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed that “the alliance is as strong as its weakest link”. He insisted on the fact that the demand for American investment is to “spend money on the capacities necessary for threats of the 21st century”.
The Defense Expenditure Debate is to warm up before a summit by US President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands from June 24 to 25. It is a high -level rally that will establish the price of future European security, including that of Ukraine.
In 2023, while the war on the Russian level against Ukraine entered the second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. Until now, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so.
The new study spending plan is that all allies target 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, more an additional 1.5% on defense -related things such as infrastructure – roads, bridges, airports and sea ports.
While the two figures increase up to 5%, taking into account infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis of which NATO traditionally calculates defense expenses. The seven -year period is also short according to the usual standards of the Alliance.
Rutte refused to confirm the figures considered, but he recognized the importance of including infrastructure in the equation, “for example to ensure that bridges, yes, are there for you and me to drive our cars, but also if necessary to ensure that the bridge will hold a reservoir. So all these expenses must be taken into account. ”
But he did not report any progress in the narrowing of the figures after the meeting, which came while the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expecting, apparently in vain, in the Turkish capital Ankara for the Russian President President Vladimir to keep in front of face to face at the end of their 3 -year war.
It is difficult to see how many members had a new goal of 3.5%. Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain do not even spend 2%yet, although Spain expects to achieve this objective in 2025, a year after the deadline.
American demand would require investments on an unprecedented scale, but Trump has questioned whether the United States would defend allies who spend too little, and this remains an incentive to do more, even if European allies realize that they must correspond to the threat posed by Russia.
Europe, the leaders of the industry and the experts have highlighted the challenges that the continent must overcome to be a truly self-sufficient military power, mainly its dependence for decades towards the United States as well as its fragmented defense industry.
“There is a lot in play for us,” said Lithuanian Foreign Affairs, Kęstatis Budrys. He urged NATO partners to achieve investment objectives faster than the 2032 objective “because we see tempo and speed, how Russia generates its forces now when we speak.”
British Foreign Minister David Lammy said his country is expected to reach 2.5% by 2027, then 3% by the next British elections scheduled for 2029.
“It is extremely important that we recommend the defense of Europe and that we intensified our American partners in this difficult geopolitical moment when there are so many precious people around the world, and in particular in Indo-Pacific,” he said.
As an organization, NATO does not play any direct security role in Asia, and we do not know what requires that the Trump administration could make allies by turning its attention to China. The last NATO security operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area, his 18-year stay in Afghanistan, ended with chaos.
Asked after the meeting to find out if the next statement of the summit will point out that Russia represents the greatest threat to all NATO allies, Rutte refused to be attracted: “We will see what is the best way to play,” he said.
The question marks also hang in the way the leaders will supervise NATO’s commitment to Ukraine. War dominated recent peaks, envoys having difficulty finding a language that would anchor the country more to the Alliance without allowing it to join.
But this year, the United States has removed members of Ukraine out of the table. Trump has shown impatience with Zelenskyy and is not clear if it will be invited to Reunion in The Hague.
Cook reported in Brussels and Fraser from Ankara, Turkey.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
