NATO pulls straight on the increase in the target for the expenses for the defense from two to five percent of the national GDP. The general secretary of the Atlantic alliance, Mark Rutte, said he was “quite confident” that members will reach an agreement on the increase in the June summit.
The Dutchman met Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome and participated in a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Weimar+group, which includes France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. However, Italy has asked for “flexibility” and more time to achieve the objectives, which according to current hypotheses would be set at 2032.
Italy asks for flexibility
“Italy is in favor of increasing safety costs. I am convinced that before the top of the AIA there will be an agreement and it seems to me that we are on the right path,” said the Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. “As you know, we ask for more time to respect the objectives required by NATO and we also ask for more flexibility during this path”, however, he specified, claiming to be “optimistic” and to believe “that in the end an agreement will be found”.
In the meeting, which was also attended by the Minister of Ukraine, there was also new sanctions to Russia, with Europe who proposed to lower the roof at the price of oil, an idea that will be discussed at the top of the G7 to be held in Canada from 15 to 17 June, where Donald Trump will be exhorted to be more aggressive against Vladimir Putin.
Towards the summit
But the first important appointment is NATO’s summit on the Hague on 24 and 25 June, where attention will be focused on the objective set on the increase in spending at 5 percent which, in Rutte’s intentions, will be divided into 3.5 percent as regards hard spending, i.e. armaments, and then a 1.5 for wider safety costs, such as borders protection, infrastructures, military mobility and cybersecurity.
“We will continue to work together to strengthen our security and collective defense and to strengthen the contribution of Europe to NATO”, declared in a joint note the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, together with Rutte and the head of the EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, at the end of the meeting in Rome. “I am quite confident” on the fact “that we will reach a common position” with the 32 alliance members at the top, said the Secretary General.
