NATO Weighs Hiking Defense Spending    05/15 06:30

   NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively 
ramp up defense investment to 5% of gross domestic product over the next seven 
years, as the U.S. focuses on security challenges outside of Europe.

   ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) -- NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an 
American demand to massively ramp up defense investment to 5% of gross domestic 
product over the next seven years, as the U.S. focuses on security challenges 
outside of Europe.

   At talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that 
more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed 
by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the focus of U.S. 
concern.

   "When it comes to the core defense spending, we need to do much, much more," 
Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over, 
Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within three to five years.

   Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that "the alliance is only as 
strong as its weakest link." He insisted that the U.S. investment demand is 
about "spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of 
the 21st century."

   The debate on defense spending is heating up ahead of a summit of U.S. 
President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands on June 
24-25. It's a high-level gathering that will set the course for future European 
security, including that of Ukraine.

   In 2023, as Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO 
leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 
22 of the 32 member countries have done so.

   The new spending plan under consideration is for all allies to aim for 3.5% 
of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially 
defense-related things like infrastructure -- roads, bridges, airports and 
seaports.

   While the two figures add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and 
cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates 
defense spending. The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance's 
usual standards.

   Rutte refused to confirm the numbers under consideration, but he 
acknowledged the importance of including infrastructure in the equation, "for 
example to make sure that bridges, yes, are there for you and me to drive our 
cars but also if necessary to make sure that the bridge will hold a tank. So 
all these expenditures have to be taken into account."

   But after the meeting, he didn't signal any progress on narrowing the 
numbers down.

   It's difficult to see how many members would reach a new 3.5% goal. Belgium, 
Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain 
are not even spending 2% yet, although Spain does expect to reach that goal in 
2025, a year past the deadline.

   The U.S. demand would require investment at an unprecedented scale, but 
Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too 
little, and this remains an incentive to do more, even as European allies 
realize that they must match the threat posed by Russia.

   Europe-wide, industry leaders and experts have pointed out challenges the 
continent must overcome to be a truly self-sufficient military power, chiefly 
its decades-long reliance on the U.S. as well as its fragmented defense 
industry.

   "There is a lot at stake for us," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kstutis 
Budrys said. He urged his NATO partners to meet the investment goals faster 
than the 2032 target "because we see the tempo and the speed, how Russia 
generates its forces now as we speak."

   British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his country should reach 2.5% by 
2027, and then 3% by the next U.K. elections planned for 2029.

   "It's hugely important that we recommit to Europe's defense and that we step 
up alongside our U.S. partners in this challenging geopolitical moment where 
there are so many precious across the world, and particularly in the 
Indo-Pacific," he said.

   As an organization, NATO plays no direct security role in Asia, and it 
remains unclear what demands the Trump administration might make of the allies 
as it turns its attention to China. The last NATO security operation outside 
the Euro-Atlantic area, its 18-year stay in Afghanistan, ended in chaos.

   Asked after the meeting about whether the next summit communique will 
underline that still Russia poses the greatest threat to all NATO allies, Rutte 
refused to be drawn: "We will see what is the best way to play that," he said.

   Question marks also hang over the way the leaders will frame NATO's 
commitment to Ukraine. The war there has dominated recent summits, with envoys 
struggling to find language that would further anchor the country to the 
alliance without actually allowing it to join.

   But this year, the United States has taken Ukraine's membership off the 
table. Trump has shown impatience with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 
and remains unclear whether he will be invited to the meeting in The Hague.