Rutte: The 2% GDP defense spending threshold is outdated; it’s time to raise the bar higher.

The defense spending target of 2% of GDP for each NATO country, established a decade ago, is now outdated. Alliance members need to raise the bar in response to the challenges NATO faces today.

Source. This was stated by Secretary General Mark Rutte during a speech in Lisbon, as reported by Reuters.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who spoke at the same press conference, responded to the Secretary General by saying that his country intends to reach the 2% target only by 2029, as previously planned, whereas in 2023, its military spending was only 1.5% of GDP. This is below the NATO average, which was 2.7% in 2024.

Rutte had previously mentioned 3.7% of GDP as one of the possible benchmarks.

The largest increases in defense spending over the past two years have been seen in Poland (over 4%), Latvia, Estonia, and Greece (over 3%).

The issue of raising the defense spending target from the current 2% will be discussed at the summit in The Hague in the summer of 2025.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized European NATO member countries for not meeting this level of spending, last week called for raising the target to 5% of GDP.

Despite the fact that Russia's war against Ukraine has prompted many NATO member countries to increase military spending, none of them, including the U.S., currently spends 5% on defense, according to data from the alliance itself.

Background. Recall that the NATO Secretary General asked Zelensky to stop criticizing Scholz. Rutte also noted that, unlike the German Chancellor, he supports supplying Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles.