The NATO summit in The Hague begins today, and US President Donald Trump will also attend, the White House confirmed.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said yesterday in The Hague that the 32 members of the alliance will make “bold decisions” at this week’s summit, including adopting a new investment plan that will increase defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product.
The increase would include a 3.5 percent increase for defense and an additional 1.5 percent for maintaining defense-related infrastructure, such as improving roads, bridges, ports and airports, as well as preparing the civilian population to deal with future conflicts, the AP reported.
At a press conference the day before the NATO summit, Rutte said that all members of the alliance would meet the target of spending two percent of GDP on defense this year, although at the beginning of 2025, “seven or eight allies” had not reached that level.
“So we have made crucial progress in the last five, six months. The new defense investment plan, which the allies will agree on at the summit in The Hague, introduces a new basis: we will invest five percent of GDP in defense. This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental for securing our future,” Rutte said.
He said that the summit in The Hague would be held “at a truly historic moment, with significant and growing security challenges” for NATO.
“As the world becomes increasingly dangerous, the leaders of the Allied countries will make bold decisions to strengthen our collective defense, which will make NATO a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance,” Rutte said.
Rutte said the global security situation has “changed dramatically” in recent years, since Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, and especially since 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He added that alliance members must therefore reach a significantly higher level of defense spending than they currently do, so that they are all able to defend their territory in the event of an attack.
“At the same time, Russia is working together with North Korea, China, Iran. China is also rapidly strengthening its armed forces to levels never seen before. The security situation has changed dramatically, and that is why this summit is important – allies must be able to defend themselves. If that moment comes, we need to stand together, united, not only in spirit, but also in practice,” Rutte said when asked if citizens of the Western Balkans have reason to worry.
Rute also said that “five out of eight Western Balkan countries are in NATO”, that there is a KFOR mission in Kosovo, and that the alliance in Bosnia and Herzegovina is closely cooperating with the EUFOR mission.
“I am in permanent dialogue with the President of Serbia (Aleksandar Vučić), we have known each other for a long time, we are close friends, but we do not always agree. And it is important that we continue that conversation,” said Rutte.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s arrival at the summit is still in question. Zelensky said it would be a victory for Russia if he was not invited to the summit, while allies discuss support for Ukraine.
Photo: archive
