NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers, praised 18 countries for being on their way to meet the 2% of GDP defence spending target and called on the remaining 13 countries to do their part in sharing the “fair” burden with the US, on Wednesday, the 14th of February, reports Politico.
Stoltenberg pointed out that this is a record number, six times higher than in 2014, when only three countries met the target, emphasizing that the criticism directed at NATO is primarily about member states not allocating sufficient funds to the alliance and “that is a valid argument.”
According to Politico, Poland, US, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, the UK, and Slovakia are among the countries that have already reached their 2023 spending target.
He also called on Europe and Canada to do more in the face of Trump’s threat to encourage Russia to attack allies, stressing that it is a message that has been sent by several US administrations that European countries and Canada need to spend more because “we don’t see a fair sharing of the burden in the alliance,” Stoltenberg said.
Also read: Trump’s comments on NATO draw criticism, White House calls them “unhinged”
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More than half of NATO countries to meet defence spending target
