“We must change to a war mentality”

Rutte has demanded from all the member states of the Atlantic Alliance a strong increase in military spending, above the current objective of 2% of GDP. Suggests raising the threshold to 3%which is the reference level during the Cold War.

This call comes in light of the imminent return to the White House of donald trumpwhich threatens to leave NATO if the allies do not pay their fair share. Rutte has already gone to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago (Miami) even before his inauguration on January 20.

“During the Cold War, Europeans spent much more than 3% of their GDP on defense.
With that mentality we won the Cold War. Spending fell after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The world was safer. It is no longer (…) I can tell you that we are going to need much more than 2%,” highlighted the Secretary General of NATO.

Rutte points out that Russia’s economy is already on a war footing, with military spending amounting to 8% of GDP. And it also has the support of China, Iran and North Korea. “All this points in a clear direction: Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation. With Ukraine and with us“, he pointed out.

“What is happening in Ukraine could happen here too. And regardless of the outcome of this war, we will not be safe in the future unless we are prepared to face the danger (…) It’s time to switch to a war mentality. And to accelerate our production and defense spending,” says Rutte.

“If we don’t spend more together now to avoid warwe will pay a much, much, much higher price later to free her. Not billions, but billions of euros. That is if we emerge victorious,” the NATO Secretary General insisted.

Rutte demands that governments do big orders and sign long term contracts with the European defense industry, to provide incentives for innovation to promote the most advanced technologies and to make tender rules more flexible.

“To the defense industry I say: do everything you can to keep us safe. There is money on the table and it will only get bigger, so dare to innovate and take risks. Come up with solutions to drone swarms and other new tactics start up additional shifts and new production lines,” he insisted.

Rutte’s knock places the Government of Pedro Sanchez in a particularly uncomfortable situation, since Spain is in last position among the 32 allied countries: it barely reaches 1.28% of GDP. Sanchez maintains its plan to reach 2% of GDP by 2029.

In its defense, the Government also argues that Spain already far exceeds the second objective of allocating at least 20% of military spending to investment in military capabilities (it is already at 28%). Furthermore, our country contributes significantly to NATO missions and operations, for example in Latvia, Slovakia or Iraq.