Experts believe Europe won’t be able to bring defence spending to 5% of GDP
The report, presented by experts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), says that European countries have significantly increased their defence spending, but it is currently unrealistic to bring it up to the 5 percent level insisted on by US President Donald Trump, TASS reports
It is noted that the total amount of NATO countries’ expenditures on defence amounted to $1.44 trillion, of which Europe’s share stands at $442bn.
According to the report, if European countries were able to increase defence spending to 3 percent of GDP, their contributions would increase by more than $250bn, and by almost $750bn if spending were increased to 5 percent of GDP.
The IISS recognised that ‘such figures are currently unattainable, as some countries already use extrabudgetary instruments to support their budgets’.
In the US, defence spending accounts for 3.39 percent of GDP, but the institute’s experts draw attention to the ‘obvious limitations of the US defence industrial base’.
Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to have NATO members increase defence spending to 5 percent of GDP. The goal of bringing this figure to 2 percent of GDP was set by NATO at the Wales Summit in September 2014. In July 2023, the Vilnius Summit decided that 2 percent of GDP should be the minimum, rather than the target, level of defence spending for NATO member states.
