\n<\/p>\n
Mark Rutte, Nato\u2019s secretary general, said it was \u201cnot a difficult thing\u201d to get members to agree to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP because of the rising threat from Russia \u2013 and stressed that Trump remained \u201cabsolutely\u201d committed to supporting the alliance.<\/p>\n
In an interview on the eve of the western alliance\u2019s summit, Rutte told the Guardian that all 32 members had agreed to increase defence spending because \u201cthere is so much at stake\u201d after Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Under the planned agreement, Nato members would commit to raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, with an additional 1.5% allocated to broader security-related investments, including cyber-security and intelligence.<\/p>\n
Rutte said: \u201cThe security situation has changed so much, and people know that when the call comes [in the event an attack on a Nato member] \u2026 you now need to deliver to the collective endeavour, what you promised, that you better have your stuff there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a critical moment for the alliance, with the war in Ukraine now in its fourth year after Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion, and the risk of a worsening conflict in the Middle East despite Donald Trump\u2019s declaration of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.<\/p>\n
Speaking in his home town of The Hague, Rutte, the former Dutch prime minister, described Russia as \u201cthe most significant and direct threat\u201d to Nato, warning that Moscow could be capable of launching an attack on alliance members within three to five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that they [Russia] want to extend their territory,\u201d Rutte said. \u201cFor a couple of years now, they\u2019ve been reconstituting themselves rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Keir Starmer on Monday.<\/span> Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/PA<\/p>\n Rutte said Russia was \u201calready producing four times as much ammunition\u201d as the entire Nato alliance despite having an economy worth just $2tn compared with Nato\u2019s $50tn. \u201cWe have to make sure we get the money up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump and the US have complained repeatedly that European allies rely too heavily on US military support.<\/p>\n From the start of his appointment in 2024, Rutte was tasked with navigating Nato\u2019s often fraught relationship with the US president, who has at times questioned the very existence of the alliance.<\/p>\n Rutte, who has carefully cultivated positive relations with Trump, insisted that the US leader remains \u201cabsolutely\u201d committed to Nato.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell Europeans, please be a bit less worried and concentrate on what you can do, spending more, getting your industry going, because they [US] are committed, but they also expect us to spend more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump is expected to travel to The Hague on Tuesday, though it was not immediately clear how developments in the Middle East may affect his schedule.<\/p>\n Rutte appeared to support US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, describing them as a \u201cdecisive action\u201d that paved the way for diplomatic talks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was Nato consistently saying Iran should not have a nuclear capability,\u201d he said, adding that the alliance\u2019s reaction would be \u201cdevastating\u201d if Iran decided to attack the bloc\u2019s territory in response.<\/p>\n As the summit approached, tensions among some Nato members surfaced when Spain signalled it would not join the alliance\u2019s new target for each country to spend 5% of GDP on defence, calling the goal \u201cunreasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n Spain lags well behind other western nations by dedicating only about 1.3% of its GDP to defence spending, though it said it would not derail an agreement over the spending target. It said it could meet its contribution to Nato\u2019s military plan by spending only 2.1%.<\/p>\n Trump then lashed out at the Spanish prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, and his government, saying: \u201cNato is going to have to deal with Spain. Spain\u2019s been a very low payer.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to This is Europe<\/span><\/p>\n The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans \u2013 from identity to economics to the environment<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Poland on Monday also criticised what it called Spain\u2019s \u201cunjustified\u201d special treatment, warning it undermined Nato unity, while Belgium said it too would ask for an exemption.<\/p>\n But Rutte played down the concerns, insisting that Nato \u201cdoesn\u2019t have exceptions, exemptions, side deals or opt-outs\u201d, on Monday. \u201cThe situation with Spain is that they have totally committed to their capability targets,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n Rutte appears to have made efforts to accommodate Spain, with the summit statement granting Madrid \u201cflexibility\u201d to determine its own path toward meeting the capability targets, though ultimately it is a matter for individual countries whether they meet alliance commitments.<\/p>\n The Spanish government sources have told the Guardian that the 3.5% on core defence spending varies from country to country, and will cost some countries more than 3.5% of their GDP to meet the capability target and some less.<\/p>\n The sources point out that Spain has its own defence industry, so, unlike other countries, does not have to pay top dollar when it wants to buy planes or warships, hence its proposed 2.1% figure.<\/p>\n Rutte also rejected worries among some European allies that Ukraine has been pushed into the background amid rising tensions in the Middle East and lingering fears that Trump may not want Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine\u2019s president, to dominate the stage.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very optimistic about supporting Ukraine,\u201d Rutte said, adding that the alliance was on an \u201cupward trajectory\u201d in its military assistance to Kyiv.<\/p>\n Unlike in previous years, this year\u2019s summit will not include a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council, which brings Kyiv to the table as an equal alongside alliance members.<\/p>\n Zelenskyy is still expected to travel to The Hague to attend an informal dinner hosted by the Dutch king on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n Ukraine is under increasing pressure, with Russian troops slowly advancing and dwindling air defences allowing a wave of deadly strikes on Kyiv \u2013 the worst seen since the early days of the invasion.<\/p>\n Speaking at Russia\u2019s economic forum last Friday, Putin signalled that Moscow remains committed to its maximalist goals in Ukraine, saying he believes the whole of Ukraine is \u201cours\u201d and said advancing Russian forces could take the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Sam Jones in Madrid<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Rutte, Nato\u2019s secretary general, said it was \u201cnot a difficult thing\u201d to get members to agree to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP because of the rising threat from Russia \u2013 and stressed that Trump remained \u201cabsolutely\u201d committed to supporting the alliance. In an interview on the eve of the western alliance\u2019s summit,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[327,1998,1996,1968,1999,523,1966,1580,1162,1997],"class_list":{"0":"post-9598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-defence","9":"tag-increasing","10":"tag-members","11":"tag-nato","12":"tag-rising","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-rutte","15":"tag-spending","16":"tag-threat","17":"tag-willingly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}