NATO leaders on Wednesday committed to spending 5 percent of annual output on defense by 2035 and also announced that the alliance will hold its next summit in Turkey in 2026.
“Allies commit to invest five percent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending by 2035,” the 32 countries said in a joint summit statement at the end of their two-day summit in The Hague on Wednesday.
Entering the meeting, leaders lined up to declare the summit’s spending hike as “historic.”
NATO allies say the increase is needed to counter a growing threat from Russia but also to keep US President Donald Trump engaged, with the US leader long complaining that Europe spends too little on its own defense.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said, “As Europeans, we should realize that our long break from history is over.”
The continent needed to take responsibility for its own security “in a very difficult time,” he added.
The leaders expressed their appreciation for the “generous hospitality” extended to them by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, saying that they look forward to their next meeting in Turkey in 2026 followed by a meeting in Albania.
The date and location of the NATO summit in Turkey have not yet been disclosed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was among the leaders attending the summit. He had a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening on the sidelines of the summit.
In the final declaration, the allies also declared Russia a “long-term threat” to their collective security and affirmed their “enduring” support for Ukraine, which has been suffering from Russian invasion since 2022.
The alliance’s 32 countries said they stood “united in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security.”
“Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours,” they said.
© Agence France-Presse