NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has expressed concerns about the alliance's ability to deter aggression due to insufficient defense spending by member states. He urged for increased investment in European defense industries and a boost in overall spending, emphasizing the need to maintain a strong deterrent in a more dangerous world.
The power of NATO to deter other states from aggression is in “doubt” because its members do not spend enough money on defence, the Secretary General warns, calling for a revival of European defence industries and spending increases.
Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer — whose main impact at the joint statement was appearing to flee press as questioning turned to whether he had broken the coronavirus lockdown rules he’d demanded be enforced harder back in 2020 — Rutte expressed the catchphrase: “to prevent war, we must spend more”.
NATO members agreed in the 2010s that their spending on defence should equate to two per cent of each member state’s Gross Domestic Product as a minimum. Almost a decade on, the average spend of Europe’s NATO states is still stubbornly low at 1.9 per cent, with some major members like Spain spending as little as 1.
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