As NATO Defense Minister meets this week, European colleagues will first come face to face with the new US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Many diplomatic sources have told the DW that while the growing unanimous spending more than 2% spends is the same – a first pledge made by a repetition colleagues last year – a specific percentage situation was created at the annual NATO Summit in June in June. .
President Trump has called upon the member states to spend 5% of his national GDP on defense, a data colleague should find unrealistic.
For now, all this is about showing Hegseth that the Allies are doing their work – Europe and Canada increased their defense spending by 20% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Other than this, Defense Minister is keen to achieve a sense of possible direction of future American policy,
Attracting US Defense Secretary close to European Union colleagues
Rafael Loss, a senior partner at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), said, “First of all, it’s about making a synergy with him, knowing about thinking with us.”
“Hates do not have much policy experience, there is no history of being attached to defense leaders and NATO. The officials in NATO will try to learn about their priorities and point to the NATO planning process, while the exact percentage Push the specific discussion on NATO’s June summit.
The focus of the meeting will have to draw the attention of Hegseth on NATO’s step-by-step approach to increase defense spending.
Sources said that instead of agreeing to a fixed number, European colleagues intend to highlight the required abilities to achieve their defense plans and thesis plans, and then discuss the investments required to buy these capabilities. .
Experts believe that the most difficult task would be to win over Hegseth – a former Fox News host that has expressed doubts about an alliance between the US and Europe – in dealing with commune security challenges.
Hegseth wrote in the past, “Defense of Europe is not our problem; it has been done,” Hegseth wrote in the past, “NATO is a remnant and left it to really defend for freedom. Should go and be remake. ”
European colleagues hope that Hey has changed his mind because he visits Germany, meets officials in NATO in Brussels, and later visits Poland in the week.
“There are many ways in which American presence in Europe helps in the power project in other parts of the world,” Los said.
“Hegseth is visiting the US Africa Command (Africa) headquarters in Germany, which facilitates most American military operations in Africa, and so on the Middle East, American deployment is facilitated in Germany … You start telling about where you have to go instead.
The friendly nations are ready to do more for the subjects of Ukraine. In place of the US, the UK will lead the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting this week to discuss the military needs of the country torn in the war.
Europe, Hover, is running on a cautious path and except for the official agenda of the meeting, despite the fact that US President Donald Trump is a protector of Denmark, a member of NATO who has threatened to attack the island .
But so far its measures, including the desire to increase expenses, are not enough for the new US administration, who seek European expenses on defense, and want American weapons especially live with that money.
Trump’s 5% demand was seen as unrealistic
Increase in defense spending up to 5% will lead to a decline of hundreds of billions of dollars from the state case, either by re -shaping the national budget – for example, by cutting social gains, or by implementing high taxes.
Both options are unpopular in an aging continent with growing pension bills and legending waiting lists to reach healthcare.
The present government of Germany is particularly influenced by the removal of social expenses in an election year. The country’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said that investing 5% of defense will eat 40% of Germany’s government budget.
Green Party co-chairman Recarda Lang has said that the necessary money alone cannot come from the current budget. “We should ensure that the security situation against social security is not played in the country.”
Germany first met the target of 2% military expenditure last year.
Italy, where defense spending is sitting at about 1.5%, is taking it up to 5% as impossible. This has only expressed a desire to increase it to 2% by 2028.
“I don’t think it would be 5%, which would be impossible for almost every country in the world,” Italian Defense Minister Guido Croceo.
Leo Goreti, head of the Italian Foreign Policy Program at Estituto Effari Efficiency for the Italian think tank, told DW that Italy’s economy was already struggling.
“Italy had to take high loan in the European Union to pay its existing bills, the second largest loan,” Heer said. “There is a public belief that the government should not invest in defense when there are other issues that affect people daily and more directly.”
Alliance interested to promote defense spending
An suggestion is to take common debt to strengthen your collective rescue for the European Union, and therefore buy American Vipon to keep FVor.
But the frugal or fiscal conservative states oppose general debt in the form of Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
European colleagues continued to lack any consensus to raise money. Currently there is a thing about joint purchase and to avoid repetition of major defense capabilities in the hope of cutting costs and keeping overall expenses below.
There is also a discussion to form an alliance interested to promote expenses, working as Norway and UK, working with the discovery of non-European Union states, made Russia and Hungary discovered as pro-Russia and Hungary Except search.
Some experts believe that Europe is not ready for fundamental changes only in Trump and his team’s relationship.
Many European leaders are hoping that there is a deal that can be killed by which they probably spend something else, buy some more American weapons, and then everything remains the same, “Center for Strategic and International Studies Max Bergman) told DW.
Edited by: Jess Smi
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