XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.history.war.misc
from
https://www.politico.eu/article/defense-spending-target-nato-joe-biden-jens-stoltenberg/
Record 23 countries hit 2 percent defense spending target, NATO says “European allies and Canada are really stepping up,” Jens Stoltenberg
tells U.S. President Biden.
SHARE
Free article usually reserved for subscribers
President Biden Holds Bilateral Meeting With Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg Of NATO
"Across Europe and Canada, NATO allies are, this year, increasing
defense spending by 18 percent," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
said standing next to U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. |
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
JUNE 18, 2024 12:46 AM CET
BY STUART LAU
BRUSSELS — A record 23 NATO countries out of 32 are hitting the
alliance's 2 percent defense spending target, according to the latest
NATO statistics released late Monday.
Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey are among those that reached
the 2 percent figure for the first time.
"Across Europe and Canada, NATO allies are, this year, increasing
defense spending by 18 percent," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
said standing next to U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on
Monday. "That’s the biggest increase in decades."
The fact 23 countries meet the target — which was set 10 years ago —
makes it "more than twice as many as four years ago, and demonstrates
that European allies and Canada are really stepping up and taking their
share of the common responsibility to protect all of us in the NATO
alliance."
It's also the first time that non-U.S. allies met the target on average,
as NATO is keen to highlight that share of defense expenditure as proof
to U.S. critics, especially from the Republican Party, who are calling
for fairer burden-sharing between the two sides of the Atlantic.
Poland tops the chart at 4.12 percent, followed by Estonia (3.43
percent), the U.S. (3.38 percent), Latvia (3.15 percent) and Greece
(3.08 percent).
Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain are among the lowest
spenders.
Related Tags
Aid and development
Defense
Defense budgets
Related Countries
Belgium
Canada
Estonia
Germany
Greece
Latvia
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
The Netherlands
Turkey
United States
Related People
Jens Stoltenberg
Joe Biden
Related Organizations
NATO
Our readers read next
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)