U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, wants NATO allies to boost their defense spending to more than double the current target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, the Financial Times and the Telegraph reported Friday.
According to the reports, Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming American president expects members of the military alliance to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.
Mitsotakis declined to cite a specific number in answering a reporter’s question on the issue. “It will be more than 2 percent. But let’s not put a figure on it, because we all have our national considerations and we should not forget that we work within a European framework,” he said.
“We need to look at all the means of how we collectively advance European defense,” Mitsotakis added. “We still have to convince our transatlantic partner that we take our own security seriously because we need our transatlantic partner in the framework of NATO.”
Europe’s NATO members are under increasing pressure to boost defense spending, particularly in light of Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to attack those who support Kyiv. New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier this month that alliance members must spend “much more” on defense than 2 percent of GDP.
The North-South summit in Saariselkä, Finland, was convened by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. Participants included Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
