Would be a challenge for its members NATO to meet the demands of US President Donald Trump on defense spending, the Prime Minister said today (23.5.2025) Kyriakos Mitsotakis In CNBC.
The White House leader has often asked NATO states to increase their contribution to security to 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) – a goal that Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece disputes that it can be achieved. “I think 5% honestly, it’s very, very difficult,” he said in an interview with CNBC’s Silvia Amaro today.
“If we are talking about tough defense spending, I think 3.5% is probably the ceiling … what could be somehow accepted,” Mr Mitsotakis said. He noted, however, that the 5% threshold could be a long -term target if wider expenses, such as critical infrastructure, were subject to the umbrella of expenditure. “Therefore, it really depends on how to do accounting,” he noted.
NATO leader Mark Rutte allegedly suggested NATO members increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDPcommitting at the same time an additional 1.5% for broader security -related issues. Many NATO countries have historically been difficult to achieve the lowest goal of the alliance for 2%, causing Trump’s rage.
According to NATO estimates, US spent about 3.4% of their GDP on defense in 2024while only two other allies – Poland and Estonia – have a greater share of their economic power on security during this period. Poland has also been committed to increasing its defense spending at a level of 5% in the coming years, while other countries were more cautious, warning that such costs would be difficult to manage.
German Foreign Minister Johann Vandeful also said last week that the country supports Trump’s goal. The result of Rutte’s proposal was “indeed the 5% requested by President Trump, which he considers to be necessary, and we follow him in this regard,” he said. A decision on new defense spending targets could be taken at the next NATO summit in late June.
Speaking to CNBC, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Trump was right to demand more defense spending than NATO allies. “Donald Trump was right when in 2017 he said that you are not making the share that is for you, because we didn’t do it,” he said. “Now we understand that there is no free meal and we can’t do free ride.”
According to NATO estimates, the same Greece spent almost 3.1% of its GDP last year on defense. Athens has steadily exceeding its 2% target for many years and has begun to further increase defense spending in 2020 in the midst of long -term tensions with its neighboring Turkey on issues such as the maritime border.
“We spend more than 3% on very specific reasons and we also greatly supported the change of European rules to encourage us to be able to spend more,” Mitsotakis said, adding that there was some progress in this area. The European Union’s budgetary rules have been restricting for years the extent of debt and fiscal deficits a member can take on.
Recently, the European Commission has made moves towards relaxing fiscal restrictions in the context of a wider package of security measures. Speaking to CNBC, Mr Mitsotakis – who has stated in the past that European Commission plans could be more ambitious – noted that it is also important to continue discussions about a possible European facility to support defense spending.