{"id":916986,"date":"2026-07-06T19:42:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/916986\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T19:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:42:29","slug":"natos-mark-rutte-urges-allies-to-meet-defense-spending-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/916986\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO’s Mark Rutte urges allies to meet defense spending targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte<\/a> on Monday demanded that members put forward \u201cclear, concrete and credible plans\u201d to reach the organization\u2019s defense spending targets at its annual summit in Ankara.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rutte spoke in the Turkish capital ahead of the two-day summit starting on Tuesday<\/a> at a crucial time for the alliance, with the United States scaling down its security role in Europe. Washington has been pressing allies to shoulder more of the spending burden.<\/p>\n

The 32 nations agreed last year to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense<\/a> \u2014 3.5% on their defense budgets and 1.5% on roads, bridges and ports so troops and equipment can move faster in times of conflict.<\/p>\n

Spain endorsed the goal<\/a> but said it could fulfill NATO\u2019s security requirements without spending so much. Some countries are still struggling to meet the alliance\u2019s old target of 2% of GDP.<\/p>\n

Asked what would happen to members that don\u2019t have a clear plan, Rutte said: \u201cIf one or two of them still have to be convinced, we have ways to do that.\u201d He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n

Trump has called for \u2018loyalty\u2019 from NATO allies<\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker suggested last week that the U.S. has something in store for those who do not step up, but declined to say more.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident (Donald) Trump<\/a> fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,\u201d Whitaker said.<\/p>\n

On spending among European allies and Canada, Rutte said that \u201cthe evidence we see so far is impressive.\u201d He said NATO estimates that they will invest a combined $258 billion more in defense in 2025 and this year than they have in previous years.<\/p>\n

But the numbers might not be enough to satisfy the Trump administration. Trump has repeatedly lashed U.S. allies over defense spending, and in the past threatened not to come to the defense of any member not doing enough \u2014 challenging NATO\u2019s key reason for existence.<\/p>\n

Trump also has called for \u201cloyalty\u201d from NATO allies, after some of them declined to allow the use of their military bases in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. As well as airing grievances about how much the U.S. spends on defense compared with other countries, Trump has sparred with allies over the war, his comments about annexing Greenland and other tiffs.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is promoting what it calls \u201cNATO 3.0,\u201d a vision in which Europe assumes greater responsibility for its own defense, freeing the U.S. to concentrate on other priorities. The approach was laid out earlier this year by Elbridge Colby, a U.S. undersecretary of defense, during a meeting of NATO defense ministers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need our allies in NATO to step up and assume leadership roles, and I mean that not only in sort of loud cheerleading but also the moral authority and the moral compass of the alliance,\u201d Whitaker said last week.<\/p>\n

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European allies warn about a possible Russia attack<\/p>\n

Some European governments have warned that Russia might be preparing a hybrid attack somewhere on the continent as Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> struggles to secure victory in Ukraine.<\/a><\/p>\n

NATO on Tuesday is due to make announcements showcasing the military equipment being bought with billions of dollars more being spent on defense and security. The event has been dubbed the \u201cbig reveal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the projects, many of them prepared and signed long before the summit, is one to replace NATO\u2019s aging fleet of surveillance planes.<\/p>\n

NATO as an organization does not own any weaponry \u2014 these are the property of member countries \u2014 but it has a fleet of AWACS aircraft that are about 50 years old and some surveillance drones.<\/p>\n

In a report released on Monday, the European Stability Mechanism \u2014 a financial institution set up to help countries using the euro currency in severe financial distress \u2014 said NATO\u2019s defense spending target is achievable but must be handled carefully.<\/p>\n

It warned that Europe\u2019s defense buildup, which largely will use debt financing in the short term, is turning into \u201cone of the central fiscal policy questions of this decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO governments are struggling to hike their defense spending, which requires increasing taxes or reshuffling resources from other priorities.<\/p>\n

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey<\/a> unexpectedly quit last month because he said the government was not willing to spend at a time of rising threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANKARA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday demanded that members put forward \u201cclear, concrete and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":916987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[32305,2147,69,440,57,3464,6087,109886,8955,49444,8132,8959,50,8961,80,618,24922,274,93,103,107],"class_list":["post-916986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-ankara","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump","tag-europe","tag-general-news","tag-international-agreements","tag-iran-war","tag-john-healey","tag-mark-rutte","tag-matthew-whitaker","tag-military-and-defense","tag-nato","tag-news","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","tag-politics","tag-taxes","tag-turkey","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-washington-news","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116874742823285668","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}