Rutte: If NATO countries kept defense spending at 2% of GDP, they would not be able to defend themselves in three years

Rutte: If NATO countries kept defense spending at 2% of GDP, they would not be able to defend themselves in three years

Ukrinform
If NATO member states kept their defense spending at just 2% of GDP, NATO would not be able to defend itself in the next three to five years.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this in an interview with CBS News, according to Ukrinform.

"If we would stick to the old 2%, we cannot defend ourselves here in three to five years," Rutte said.

He called it "staggering" to see how many billions of euros NATO's European members have committed to defense in the last couple of months.

"We have to continue doing this," Rutte added.

Read also: US not withdrawing from Ramstein format, support for Ukraine will continue – Rutte

Earlier, Rutte stated that increased European defense budgets and ramped-up weapons production were essential to ensuring Europe's security.

While citing and using any materials on the Internet, links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory. In addition, citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet. Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No. 270/96-VR of July 3, 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No. 2849-Х of March 31, 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice.

Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421.

© 2015-2025 Ukrinform. All rights reserved.

Extended searchHide extended search
By period:
-