Brussels 03.02.2025 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged the EU member states of the Alliance to increase the defence spending beyond their common goal of 2% of national output set in 2014, insisting this was now too low because of new challenges, namely Russian war in Ukraine.

.@SecGenNATO participated in an informal meeting of EU leaders to discuss European defence.

He stressed the importance of the NATO-EU partnership, highlighting the transatlantic bond as the foundation of European security 🇪🇺🤝

— NATO (@NATO) February 3, 2025

Rutte addressed journalists, while entering the meeting in d’Egmont palace with the EU leaders to convey them the message he has already address to the members of the European parliament, demanding them to cut spending on education, healthcare, and social security. The reception of the demands was less than lukewarm.

At present non of the EU member-states spend 5% on defense. Neither does the the Europe’s major ally: the U.S. last year spent 3.4% of its GDP on defense, while in the EU only Poland comes closest, spending 4.12% in 2024, and targeting to upgrade to 4.7 percent in 2025.