How Much Have the NATO Countries Decided to Spend on Defense? What Has Been Their Commitment?

On Monday, a big announcement was made by Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, and US President Biden revealing that a record number of allies were touching all their military spending commitments. The two leaders aim to demonstrate a consistent and strong stance against the acts of Russia in Ukraine.

The NATO Summit 2024 is going to be held from July 9 to July 11, 2024, in Washington DC. All eyes are on the event as the member countries may talk about some measures for securing funding and long-term security for Ukraine.

On Monday, Mr. Stoltenberg declared that NATO is all set to play a big role in the security of Ukraine meanwhile.

“I expect that when we meet next month, we will agree to have a NATO role in providing security assistance and training,” expressed Mr. Stoltenberg. He further expressed that this will eventually lessen the burden of the US and boost NATO's support to Ukraine.

The informal commitment

The expectation of NATO to provide security assistance seems like a possibility, owing to the fact that there are many allies that are increasingly accomplishing their informal commitment of spending at least 2% of their GDP in defense.

It was in the year 2014 when NATO members made that pledge. Only three of these members, including the US, could accomplish that goal. The number increased from three to ten over five years ago. This year, as said by Mr. Stoltenberg, over 20 or more than the total of 32 members will be able to achieve this mark.

What comes as a big surprise is the fact that allies have significantly increased their military spending this year by over 18 percent, as expressed by Mr. Stoltenberg. This proves to be the biggest leap in spending in years.

The two leaders have been strongly reassured regarding their alliance for the support of Ukraine. Russia has gained momentum in its progress on the front lines. On the other hand, former President Donald Trump has raised a brow on the help provided to Ukraine. He has also questioned the importance of NATO.

However, it was Mr. Biden's turn to express how important NATO is, and he did so prior to the meeting. He iterated that he considers NATO quite essential. “Together, we’ve deterred further Russian aggression in Europe,” the US President expressed.

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The upcoming summit

The summit ahead is hopefully going to expand on the progress made by the Western allies at the Group of 7 meeting held in Italy recently. The progress includes the approval of a $50 billion loan to Ukraine with the help of the frozen Russian assets plus the ten-year security agreement signed by President Zelensky and President Biden to equip and train the Ukrainian forces.

The increase in the spending of NATO allies will probably counter some of the criticism by the former President of the US, Donald Trump. The former President believed that other members of NATO do not contribute enough, and this criticism is likely to be countered by the rise in the spending by the NATO allies.

However, what seems to be a worrisome incident for the NATO members about the future of the alliance is the possibility of Trump's return to the White House.

This is because Mr. Trump earlier threatened to pull back the US from the NATO alliance in case other European country members did not raise their spending. In February too, the former President expressed his encouragement to Russia to do whatever it wishes to the NATO members in case they fail to pay as expected. Additionally, more than 40 House Republicans voted in favor of defunding the organization. These Republicans alleged that a lot of members failed to accomplish the 2 percent commitment.

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