Under pressure from Washington, European NATO members are expected to demonstrate at this week's summit in Ankara that they can deliver on defense spending commitments.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday projected optimism that European allies and Canada are "on a trajectory to equalize their defense spending" with the United States, as President Donald Trump continues to lambaste allies for allegedly spending too little.
Rutte's remarks at Turkey's presidential palace in Ankara come ahead of a critical two-day leaders' summit starting Tuesday, where discussions are expected to focus on whether allies can show progress that pledges on defense are translating into results.
On spending among European allies and Canada, Rutte said that "the evidence we see so far is impressive." Projections show the allies will invest a combined $258 billion (€226 billion) more in defense in 2025 and 2026 than in previous years, he said.
"Just one year into a 10-year project, we see that European allies and Canada are already investing around 4% of their GDP in defense and security," Rutte added. The NATO chief also demanded that allies put forward at the Ankara summit "clear, concrete and credible plans" to reach the organization's spending targets.
US NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker said last week that Trump "fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency." At a summit last year, the 32 members of NATO committed to invest 5% of their GDP on defense by 2035.
For European NATO members, spending 5% of GDP on defense represents a big leap, but Washington has made it clear that it expects Europe to take the lead in its own backyard. Rutte on Monday said that European allies and Canada were "taking on more leadership within NATO's command and control structure."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hopes that the summit in Ankara will send a signal that "we are building a European NATO" in order for the alliance to "remain transatlantic." German media reported that Merz spoke with Trump on Friday to correct the US president who had called the defense budgets of several NATO member states "ridiculous."
Merz has previously said that Germany plans to aggressively ramp up defense spending to reach the 5% threshold before 2029. Germany's draft defense budget for 2027 calls for a 30% year-on-year increase to nearly €110 billion.
Tuesday's summit comes at a crucial time for the NATO alliance, with the Trump regime earlier this year upending the alliance's unity by threatening to take over Greenland from Denmark, and then blasting allies for not providing support for the Iran war, which was launched by the US and Israel without consulting European governments.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a speech last month, said Europe has gotten used to an "era of free riding," while calling NATO a "paper tiger." Hegseth also announced a six-month review of the US force posture in Europe, interpreted as Washington laying the groundwork to pull back its forces from Europe.
Source: www.dw.com