With dinner in the palace House Den Bosch And the royal couple of the Netherlands in the role of hosts begins the work of the NATO meeting. Already in the Netherlands is the Donald Trump, For the sake of which the work schedule was shrinking: they start tomorrow at 11am and are expected to be completed by 3pm. A key stake in the session is the increase in defense spending to 5%, which is expected to be agreed.
The leader of the alliance, after all, the Mark Ruttefollowing the revelation of the messages he addressed to the US president about his intervention in the Israeli-Iran war, he insisted that without Trump NATO would not go to an increase in spending.
Trump’s finding that Europeans mainly spend little on the common defensewhich he had done before the end of his first presidential term, was admittedly correct.
In the meantime, however War in Ukraine, so in one way or another most NATO members “caught” the target of 2%. But Trump did not change line and insists on 5%, which the Dutch secretary -general is willing to succeed, even on paper.
Rutte’s plan foresees Expenditure of 5% For the coming years, but in practice the target is 3.5% of purely defensive costs and 1.5% of safety and defense -related costs and investment, such as infrastructure, industry and durability. The initial time horizon for the implementation of the commitment is 2035, but it has not yet been finalized and is also expected to be a matter of debate among leaders. Already, however, Spain has succeeded in excluding the rule, while Belgium and Canada have expressed objections, so the debate will be interesting for the adaptation time.
According to Greek government sources, Greece agrees with the proposal of the Secretary -Generalas it already spends more than 3% of its GDP in defense, it therefore belongs to the hard core of alliance countries that have exceeded NATO, which is currently 2% of GDP, while the prime minister recently unveiled the country’s 12 -year defense program. In his speech at the leaders’ meeting, Mr Mitsotakis will point out that Greece, despite the financial difficulties, consistently adhered to its commitments, and would point out the urgent need for Europeans to invest more and more intelligently in the collective European defense and form a strong European defense.
Interesting in the equation, however Tayyip Erdogan In The Hague. According to US and Turkish leaks expected to meet with Donald Trump, with whom he spoke several times on the phone about the situation in the Middle East. Mr Erdogan aspires to get an invitation to the White House, which he never got to Biden, but also a serious debate on lifting the sanctions caatsa which prevent the supply of critical US equipment.
On the other hand, Mr Mitsotakis does not have an organized meeting with Mr Erdogan in his program, which means that the scenario for a Supreme Cooperation Council in early July is rather utopian in early July in early July in Anchor. Given the geopolitical developments, it could hardly be done anyway. On the other hand, Athens does not want to cut the line of contact with the neighbor, so it is not unlikely that Mr Mitsotakis and Erdogan have a tet-a-tete “upright” on the sidelines of the meeting.
Spain’s desire for exception
The biggest challenge at the summit, however, is to persuade all states to increase their basic military costs to 3.5%. Spain, which spends less money on military spending on the entire NATO alliance, does not seem willing to increase its expenditure.
Other countries, such as Italy, take more time than the proposed seven years to fulfill their obligation. Many NATO members are already ready to spend more money, but refuse to commit to the progress control mechanism, which Rutte also suggested.
Photos from the leaders’ arrivals in The Hague: Georgia Meloni, Friedrich Mertz, Kir Starmer, Volodimir Zelenski
