Under US pressure Europe increases defense spending - Expert insight
Photo: Europe has increased defense spending (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
In a comment to RBC-Ukraine, Pavlo Zhovnirenko, chairman of the board of the Center for Strategic Studies, stated that US President-elect Donald Trump continues to criticize Europe for insufficient defense spending. However, the situation has already changed, and the continent's military spending has increased significantly.
“In my opinion, there is much to criticize Trump for, including about Ukraine, but concerning NATO, he did a very important thing during his first presidency. He simply made it clear that we have to pay, we have to invest in our defense, and we should not rely on the United States,” he said.
According to him, if Trump came for the first time now, it would be very bad because NATO would not be ready.
RBC-Ukraine noted in the article “NATO under Trump. Possibility and consequences of US withdrawal from alliance” that Central and Eastern European countries, which have already reached the 2% target, are lobbying for a further increase in defense spending with the support of the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. And their insistence seems to be being heard.
According to Bloomberg, NATO is considering raising the defense spending rate from 2% to 3% of GDP. The publication's interlocutors note that the priorities will be strengthening air defense, offensive weapons systems, and nuclear deterrence capabilities.
It is unknown when the standard will be introduced, but as a rule, such decisions are made at annual NATO summits. The next one will be held in June next year in The Hague.
Notably, European NATO members already have their nuclear umbrella. However, it is not as powerful as the American one.
“The UK and France are more decisive, they are also nuclear powers, and they take such commitments (within NATO) more seriously. I think, ultimately, so will Germany. That is, the solidarity within NATO remains, even without the United States,” Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies, told RBC-Ukraine.
There are large differences in defense spending among NATO member states. Poland has allocated a record 186.6 billion zlotys ($46 billion) for defense this year, or 4.7% of GDP, while Germany, the largest provider of EU military aid to Ukraine, will spend 2.1% or €72 billion this year.
