BRUSSELS, 11 December - NATO is reportedly considering raising the military spending threshold from 2 % to 3 % of GDP in 2025, which is seen as necessary to meet new arms production targets among the alliance's countries, according to Bloomberg citing its sources.
The agency notes that "new specific targets for how many tanks, aircraft and other weapons systems will be added" will be adopted at the June summit, which "may require raising the alliance's defence spending target to up to 3 % of gross domestic product".
Efforts to increase defence budgets already underway, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has repeatedly stated over the past month that 2 % of GDP is "simply not enough".
During the 2016 NATO Summit in Brussels, then US President Donald Trump called on EU leaders to increase NATO defence budgets. He suggested that a spending level of 4 % of GDP would be appropriate.
Meanwhile, a Lithuanian official Andrius Kubiliuswho serves as European Commissioner for Defence and Space, has proposed issuing €500 billion worth of EU defence loan bonds over the next decade to finance NATO's military needs.
Studies conducted in the EU and the US between 2022 and 2023 show that in the event of a non-nuclear conflict with Russia involving a combat intensity similar to the ongoing military operation in Ukraine, NATO could suffer losses comparable to the total losses during the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan within 1-2 weeks.
Eight years before the special military operation in Ukraine, NATO committed at the 2014 summit in the UK to significantly increase defence spending to 2 % of GDP for all alliance members within ten years. However, the alliance has not achieved this goal - currently only about a third of its 32 member countries exceed the 2% GDP threshold.
TASS/ gnews - RoZ
PHOTO - Facebook NATO
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