Before the European deputies, on January 13, the Secretary General of NATO, the Dutchman Mark Rutte, did not endorse the wish of the American president [ré]elected, Donald Trump, to see the member countries of the Alliance increase their military spending to 5% of their GDP. On the other hand, the threshold of 2% of GDP, which currently constitutes the norm, appears clearly insufficient in view of the security context.
Allies “will have to spend more and a target of more than 3% [du PIB] seems likely,” said Mr. Rutte, insisting that “security is not free” and that, as such, “MPs play a crucial role in debates on increased spending.”
“Generally speaking, spending more on defense means spending less on other priorities, but this can make a big difference for our future security,” also argued the NATO Secretary General, before suggesting “cut” social benefits to finance increased military spending.
“On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health and social security systems, and we only need a small fraction of this money to strengthen defense “, he noted. “And if you don't, you'll be safe now, but not in four or five years. Otherwise, you will then have to take Russian lessons at home or move to New Zealand,” he said.
In passing, Mr. Rutte threw a wrench into the pond by calling into question the viability of the concept of European strategic autonomy… and by rejecting the idea of excluding the American arms industry from the future Program for European defense industry [EDIP].
“It's great to have a kind of European NATO, but then forget the 2%. It will be necessary to go up to 8, 9 or 10%. If you really want it, you will have to build your own nuclear capacity and it will take 15, 20 years if you want to build a European NATO without the United States,” argued the former Dutch Prime Minister.
In any case, on January 17, following a meeting of the State Defense Council, Lithuania indicated that it would follow Poland in increasing its military spending to a level well beyond of the 3% of GDP recommended by Mr. Rutte.
-“At the meeting on state defense, we made a truly historic decision […] concerning the sustainable financing of our national defense. We agreed that we would allocate 5 to 6% of GDP per year to defense over the period 2026-2030,” declared Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
According to NATO data, Lithuania's military budget amounted to 2.133 billion euros in 2024, or 2.85% of GDP.
“The possibility of Russian military aggression remains real, but it is not inevitable. We must significantly increase our efforts to strengthen defense and deterrence and devote more resources to them,” Mr. Nausėda said. »
“Our security is ensured by our membership in the Alliance [la Lituanie accueille un bataillon multinational et un détachement aérien de l’Otan, ndlr]. But it will only be effective if we are ready to defend ourselves. Our armed forces must have adequate weapons, equipment and personnel. All this must be received in a timely manner. Only then will investments in defense be profitable and have a maximum deterrent effect,” he added.
As for the financing of this substantial effort, the Lithuanian president explained that it would be partly ensured “by renouncing possibly useless functions in other areas of public life”.
“We must understand that the enemy [la Russie, ndlr] rebuilds and expands its capabilities quickly and efficiently, we are seeing an increase in hybrid attacks. We must also act,” said Dovilė Šakalienė, the Lithuanian Minister of Defense. “Today, we have shown a united political will so that, by 2030, we can have a fully operational infantry division integrated into NATO defense plans,” she said. .
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