Europe and Canada to increase defense spending by 20% in 2024 – Rutte
Defense spending by European NATO members and Canada in 2024 was 20% higher than in the previous year.
This was stated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Censor.NET reports citing Radio Liberty.
"I am looking forward to the meeting of NATO defense ministers next week, where we will talk about how to invest better and more in defense," Rutte said in response to a request for the latest spending data. They are growing. In fact, spending by Europe and Canada will increase by 20% in 2024, bringing the total amount of additional investment in recent years from $640 billion to $700 billion."
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stated that defense spending may have to increase to 3.7 percent of GDP. Only Poland is currently above this figure. The current target for defense spending is 2 percent of GDP, which most members have reached or exceeded in 2024. Rutte also called on Europe to invest more in defense, increase arms production, and take a larger share of the costs of helping Kyiv.
The new spending target is likely to be agreed at the NATO summit in The Hague in June. This requires the agreement of all 32 member states.
