NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Monday, the 13th of January, that the European Union (EU) should review its spending priorities in order to increase its defence budget, adding that to achieve the NATO Alliance’s military capability goals, member states could have to spend up to 3.7% of GDP on defence, but that this figure could be reduced through innovation and joint procurement, report Reuters and Politico.
“On average, European countries spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health and social security systems, and we only need a fraction of that money to make defence much stronger,” Rutte told MEPs.
Most EU countries are also NATO members, and NATO estimates that 23 of its members in 2024 have reached the current target of spending 2% of GDP.
US President-elect Donald Trump announced last week that NATO members should spend 5% of GDP on defence – much higher than America’s own 3.38%. Analysts believe that such a level would be politically and economically impossible for almost all of the alliance’s 32 members.
New military capability targets resulting from NATO’s internal planning process suggest the alliance would need “more than 3%”, Rutte said,
adding that joint procurement of weapons and equipment, as well as innovation, could reduce the amount of funding needed.
Even if this happens, the defence budget “will be impressively higher than 2%”, Rutte warned.
Despite growing concerns about Trump, who has threatened Canada’s independence and has not ruled out using force to seize the Panama Canal or take over Greenland, Rutte stressed Europe’s dependence on the US for security, calling it an “illusion” that Europe can provide defence on its own.
He backed the EU’s 1.5 billion euro European Defence Industry Programme, which aims to boost domestic arms production, criticising the current industry as “too small, too fragmented and too slow”.
Rutte also urged the involvement of non-EU allies in the defence industry, as it is “vital for Europe’s security”.
“Transatlantic cooperation in the defence industry makes us all stronger,” he said.
In his first speech as NATO chief to the EP, Rutte said the aim was to “bring NATO and the EU closer together” to counter the Kremlin’s “destabilisation campaign”, as well as threats from Iran and China, to cyber-attacks and nuclear proliferation.
“We are safe now, but not in four or five years”, he said, adding that if defence spending did not increase, Europeans should “take Russian language courses or go to New Zealand”.
“I am very concerned about the security situation in Europe,” he said. “We are not at war, but we are not at peace…
This means we need to invest more in defence and build more capabilities. This cannot wait. We need to increase the resilience of our societies and critical infrastructure.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to closer cooperation between NATO and the EU, although their roles have historically been different. However, the EU has appointed its first Defence Commissioner and set up a Defence Committee, which has raised concerns about overlapping responsibilities with NATO.
But Rutte favours cooperation. “NATO and the EU have a lot to do together,” he said, referring in particular to efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.
However, he was cautious about the EU interfering too much in NATO territory, noting that the alliance “is strong” on issues such as setting standards for artillery munitions, but the EU’s internal market will prevail in promoting military production.
On Ukraine, he insisted that peace can only be achieved through an agreement that serves the interests of Kiyv.
This means “more weapons and faster, so that [Kiyv] can better defend itself and negotiate a good deal for Ukraine, Europe and the world”, he said.