The leaders of the Baltic and Nordic countries, meeting in Vilnius on Monday 2 June, gave their support to an increase in defence spending, but also to strengthening the defence industry.
At the NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June, the Allies could agree a new defence spending target of 5% of GDP.
“We also believe that allies will be ready to substantially increase defence investment. As we move towards a target of at least 5% of GDP devoted to defence-related funds and investment, we expect the whole Alliance to follow this example”, stressed the Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausėda, at the end of a B9 meeting in Vilnius. Lithuania is expected to spend more than 5% of its GDP on defence by 2030.
“We must not only increase our defence spending, but also be able to produce military equipment to protect ourselves”, explained Romanian President Nicușor Dan. A view shared by his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, for her part, called for the Allies to invest “massively” in their collective security, and to do so “quickly”. “But the mere fact that we agree on a new defence spending target will not deter Russia. We need to provide concrete capabilities, and quickly”, she warned.
In addition to defence spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte highlighted the achievement of ambitious new capability targets, linked to defence planning. “These objectives define the forces and capabilities that each ally must provide to maintain the strength of our deterrence and defence, and ensure the security of our one billion citizens”, he said. The defence ministers of the allied countries will reportedly agree on these new objectives in Brussels on Thursday.
Gitanas Nausėda also said that at the Hague Summit, “we expect a message of transatlantic unity, reaffirmation of our commitment to collective defence, and readiness to defend allied territory”, as well as a message that NATO stood by Ukraine. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)