Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said on Thursday morning that he expects allies to agree on what he called historic new capability targets at the defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Reuters reports he said that the goal was to better balance defence contributions between Europe, Canada, and the US. Rutte also said there is a need to boost spending on air defences, long-range missiles, land forces, and command and control systems. He said it would be a considerable extra investment. A defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP across the Nato alliance will happen, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in Brussels, ahead of the Nato defence ministers meeting. Reuters reports that Hegseth said that to be an alliance, you had to be combat-ready. “We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defence spending across this alliance, which we think will happen. It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month,” he said. Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Europe, where today the main focus to begin with is the Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels. Here are the headlines … A defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP across the Nato alliance will happen, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has told reporters in Brussels Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte has said that new investment will equalise what the US, European nations and Canada have committed to spending. He said that Nato needed to invest in its capabilities to protect itself from being attacked Germany’s new conservative leader, Friedrich Merz, is due in Washington on Thursday for his first official meeting with Donald Trump
Author: Martin Belam