Tanjug/AP
NATO Secretary General Mark Rute warned the European Union today not to create “barriers” that would prevent companies from NATO member countries outside the European bloc from participating in the improvement of the defense industry.
Last year, the European Commission put forward a proposal to spend 1.5 billion euros to give incentives to countries to buy together from European firms and encourage industry to increase capacity, but EU capitals have yet to agree on how much of the funds should go to will be reserved for companies from the EU, Reuters reported.
On January 10, the British agency, referring to officials and analysts, stated that NATO will not fulfill the proposal of the newly elected US President Donald Trump to significantly increase defense allocations, but that they will probably agree to higher allocations than the current ones.
Officials from NATO countries said they agree that defense spending should continue to grow, but they did not support the five percent figure, which analysts say is politically and economically impossible for almost all members.
Officials say the new target is likely to be agreed at a NATO summit in The Hague in June, prompted by fears that Russia could attack a NATO country after Ukraine and Trump’s advice.
Some officials expect that the 32 NATO members, after much bickering, will agree to a goal of around three percent of GDP.
Poland, which borders Ukraine, is a NATO member that spends the largest part of its GDP on defense – it allocated 4.12 percent last year, according to estimates from the alliance. Followed by Estonia with 3.43 percent and the USA with 3.38 percent. NATO members allocate an average of around 2.71 percent of GDP.
The US president-elect said last week that members of the military alliance should allocate five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defense, a huge increase from the current goal of two percent and a level currently not achieved by any NATO country, including the US. .
Source: www.vesti-online.com
