Belgium wants to keep investments in the Ministry of Defense outside the budget to reach the NATO standard faster
© Belga
At the European summit on Thursday, our country will ask to keep extra investments in defense outside the budget. The De Wever government wants to achieve the NATO standard of 2 percent GDP faster.
Barely a month after the formation of the federal government-de Wever, part of the coalition agreement is already due for revision. The Arizona parties agreed to achieve the NATO standard of 2 percent GDP of Defense expenditure by 2029, but the pressure is growing to achieve that threshold much faster. It was Minister of Defense Theo Francken (N-VA) who was the first to suggest reaching the 2 percent this summer. This requires around 4 billion euros. Until now, 1 billion euros extra was provided via the budget. Another part had to come through a defensive fund, but that has not yet been worked out.
So a lot of money still needs to be raised to get the NATO standard. But Minister of Budget Vincent van Peteghem (CD&V) believes it is necessary. “We are not allowed to wait until 2029 as stated in the coalition agreement. Rather now achieve the NATO goals and more money for the army than war with Putin, « he says in an interview with Sunday. Van Peteghem wants to look in his own budget – not the social security – whether there is still room, but also confirms that our country will argue with Europe.
In concrete terms, Van Peteghem wants to be deployed for part of the European relain resources for defense. But that may not suffice either. That is why the budget minister would find it « a good thing » if the investments in Defense are simply kept out of the budget. Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau is on the same line. « It is very important that we are going to talk to Europe, » he said The seventh day. « They have every interest in investing more in defense, but they must allow us. »
There is a good chance that European leaders will effectively allow creativity to boost the defense spending on Thursday. The new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to bypass the strict budget policy in his own country to invest 200 billion extra. Since Germany is traditionally the strictest steward, there is a good chance that Europe will soon be a crush when countries will spend more money, just like during Corona.
