Greek PM: NATO to determine defense spending after talks with Trump
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (photo: Getty Images)
Next year, a new amount of money will be set for NATO's defense spending. This decision will be made after talks with newly elected US President Donald Trump, states Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“It will become clear, once we interact with the new [US] president, what is the figure that we will agree on within NATO,” Mitsotakis said.
According to him, NATO states are aware that more funds will need to be allocated for defense.
Mitsotakis refused to name a specific figure when asked by a journalist.
“It will be more than 2 percent. But let’s not put a figure on it, because we all have our national considerations and we should not forget that we work within a European framework,” he said.
Earlier it was reported that US President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, wants NATO allies to more than double their defense spending compared to the current 2%.
According to reports, Trump's team told European officials that the new US president expects NATO members to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP.
“We still have to convince our transatlantic partner that we take our own security seriously because we need our transatlantic partner in the framework of NATO,” the Greek prime minister added.
