NATO countries are well aware of the need to spend more than 2 percent of their economic output on defense, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday, adding that a new target figure “will become clear” next year after discussions among alliance members.
“We know we will need to spend more than 2 percent,” Mitsotakis told a press conference after an EU meeting in Finland’s far north on European security, defense and migration.
“It will become clear, once we interact with the new [U.S.] president, what is the figure that we will agree on within NATO.”
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, wants NATO allies to boost their defense spending to more than double the current target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, the Financial Times and the Telegraph reported Friday.
According to the reports, Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming American president expects members of the military alliance to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.
Mitsotakis declined to cite a specific number in answering a reporter’s question on the issue. “It will be more than 2 percent. But let’s not put a figure on it, because we all have our national considerations and we should not forget that we work within a European framework,” he said.
“We need to look at all the means of how we collectively advance European defense,” Mitsotakis added. “We still have to convince our transatlantic partner that we take our own security seriously because we need our transatlantic partner in the framework of NATO.”
Europe’s NATO members are under increasing pressure to boost defense spending, particularly in light of Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to attack those who support Kyiv. New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier this month that alliance members must spend “much more” on defense than 2 percent of GDP.
The North-South summit in Saariselkä, Finland, was convened by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. Participants included Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
“We all agreed that Europe needs to do more to defend itself and prevent war,” Kallas said in a post on X. “Next year, we will propose ideas at the EU level for more defense cooperation, stronger capabilities & funding.”
Kristersson also said that “Europe needs to take a larger responsibility for our own security,” in a post on X. The Swedish leader also declined to put a figure on defense spending, saying: “There’s a lot of rumors going on.”
A NATO report in June showed that a record 23 members of the alliance out of 32 were meeting the 2 percent target for defense spending.
Mitsotakis added that there is a need to “do more and be smarter in how we allocate defense funds at national and European level.”
“I have advocated greater flexibility, within the new budgetary rules, in how we deal with defense spending.”
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