20+ NATO countries to allocate at least 2% of GDP to defense in 2024 - Stoltenberg
Over 20 NATO members will meet the Alliance's target of allocating at least 2% of GDP to defense, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House on June 17, Reuters reported.
He highlighted how NATO countries raised their military spendings - the trend, triggered by Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014.
When NATO leaders at a summit in 2014 set a target of 2% of GDP, only three members — the United States, Greece and Great Britain — achieved this figure, Stoltenberg said.
"NATO allies are this year increasing defense spending by 18%, that's the biggest increase in decades, and 23 allies are going to spend 2% of GDP or more on defense this year."
"Some European NATO members are calling for the defense spending target to be increased to 3% of GDP from the current 2%," the European Commission's Director General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS), Timo Pesonen, said at the beginning of May.
This sharp change in policy regarding defense spendings may be linked to former U.S. President Donald Trump accusing Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on the United States for protection - he even told he would not protect NATO members that failed to spend enough on defense and, moreover, would even encourage Russia to attack them.
"Trump is considering plans to force NATO members to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP if he wins the election," The Telegraph reported.
NATO members should contribute more to NATO collective defense amid threats from Russia and China, Trump believes.
He urged to change accounting rules, so that aid to Ukraine is not calculated as part of defense spending.
Poland and Greece are the only two EU countries in NATO that spend more than 3% of GDP on defense, as well as the United States.
Polish President Andrzej Duda sent a letter to the NATO countries' leaders proposing to increase defense spending from 2% to 3% of GDP to defense on April 4.
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