Portugal among eight member states failing to reach 2% minimum threshold
NATO secretary general Mark Rutte has called on Portugal and other member states still spending less than 2% of their gross domestic product on defence spending to lift it above this threshold by next summer, warning that the organisation collectively needs much more funding.
This is not the first time Rutte has challenged the NATO stragglers, but it signals the start of a new more energetic approach.
In Portugal recently, Rutte seemingly got nowhere with the now caretaker prime minister Luís Montenegro, who ostensibly stuck to his guns about reaching the 2% target in 2029, in spite of gathering tensions throughout the West, and before the arrival of the geopolitical scene of a new American administration.
He then went on to visit Spain – and had a great deal more luck, it seems. During a colloquium held at the Warsaw School of Economics yesterday, Rutte noted that Spain “among other European countries intends to reach that target this summer” (Spain also had the plan to reach 2% only in 2029, but has responded to the changes prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the return of Donald Trump to the White House).
Thus, Rutte’s focus now on getting Portugal and Italy to follow Spain’s example – as he has stressed countless times since taking over the post from Jens Stoltenberg in October last year, NATO countries need to spend “much, much more than 2% of GDP on defence”: 2% is not a valid benchmark any longer, but in the case of the continued stragglers, it will have to do.
The speech was not without warnings, either. He pointed out that it is not only NATO’s eastern allies that are under threat from Russia: “with Russia’s latest missile technology, the difference between an attack on Warsaw and an attack on Madrid is ten minutes.
“So we are all on the eastern flank: Amsterdam is on the eastern flank, London is on the eastern flank, even Washington is on the eastern flank,” he said.
Spanish news agency EFE has commented on Rutte’s statements, confirming that the country “is working to achieve the 2% commitment as quickly as possible”, but not referring to the pledge to do so by this summer.
The poorly-paying eight, in order of the percentage of GDP that they spend on defence are: Spain (1.28%), Slovenia and Luxembourg (both on 1.29%), Belgium (1.30%), Canada (1.37%), Italy (1.49%), Portugal (1.55%) and Croatia (1.81%). ND
Source material: LUSA
