Rubio: « By June all NATO members will agree with 5% Defense expenditure »
The American Foreign Minister Marco Rubio is convinced that all NATO members will endorse the 5%standard. – © Reuters
The American Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said on Thursday that all NATO member states against the NATO top of June 2025 will have reached an agreement on the goal of issuing the equivalent of 5% of their GDP on defense in the coming ten years.
Rubio made the statement during a performance in the Hannity program on Fox News.
The US President Donald Trump had reduced the American contribution to NATO during the last part of his first term (2017-2021) and repeatedly complained that the US paid more than its fair share.
« I can tell you that we will have a top in six weeks in which almost every NATO member will be on or above 2%, but more importantly: many will be above 4% and they will all have endorsed the goal to reach 5% in the next ten years, » said Rubio.
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The German Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul stated this week that Berlin supports Trump’s requirement to increase the defense spending of NATO member states to 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Germany reported in January that in 2024 it first met the NATO-STREF figure of 2% of GDP for Defense.
Will Belgium become the worst student?
That is somewhat different for Belgium. « We actually don’t have room for maneuver, » said Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) in the room. « Not even to do the 2 percent. Let alone to do even more. » That was the conclusion of his core cabinet on Wednesday and that is also the message that foreign minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) preached to his colleagues in Antalya, Turkish, where they consider higher defense issues.
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To get to 2 percent this year as NATO has been asking for more than ten years, the De Wever government has spent 12 billion euros. To finish at 5 percent, 30 billion euros would be needed.
