On Wednesday 4 June, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed that the Defence Ministers of the Allied countries will adopt the new capability goals on Thursday, which define the concrete forces and capabilities that the Allies must provide to strengthen their deterrence and defence.
Speaking to the media, Mr Rutte explained that air and missile defence, long-range weapons and large land manoeuvre formations were among the main priorities.
“This week is crucial: we are going to agree and assess the shortcomings of our collective defence (...) so that we can defend ourselves, not only today, but also in three to five years’ time”, he explained.
However, the General Secretary pointed out that the objectives previously adopted had not yet been achieved. “It’s clear that there’s still a lot of work to be done on current capability targets”, he acknowledged.
Mr Rutte added that “more resources, forces and capabilities are needed to be ready to deal with any threat and to fully implement our collective defence plans. To achieve our new objectives, it is clear that we will need significantly higher defence spending”. At the Summit in The Hague at the end of the month, the Allies could agree on a new target of 5% of GDP spent on defence and security by 2032. The new defence spending target will also be discussed at the ministerial meeting.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, the US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, was firm on the 5%. “Peace by force demands nothing less, and it demands the same of all the Allies (...) This is not a suggestion. It is a basis for deterrence in a world where threats are omnipresent”, he stressed. He called on each Ally to increase its budget “as much as possible and as quickly as possible”, explaining that his country could not accept a commitment spread over a decade, as was the case at the Wales Summit in 2014. “Our opponents will not wait until we are ready”, warned Mr Whitaker.
After a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Wednesday (see other news), the Defence Ministers will meet their Ukrainian counterpart this Thursday for a NATO/Ukraine Council. The Secretary General confirmed that he had invited Ukraine to take part in the Summit in The Hague, but did not specify which events Ukrainian leaders would attend.
Furthermore, while, according to Mr Rutte, “Washington’s decision to present the Ukrainians with an irreversible path towards Ukraine’s membership of NATO is still valid today”, the American ambassador specified that membership was “not currently on the agenda”, adding that the United States was not the only NATO ally to share this view.
The ministerial meeting will conclude with a regular meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)