On January 7, Donald Trump, two weeks before returning to the White House, Europeans had blurred. Not only was the American president threatened to take, including by force, Greenland, but he also asked that the countries of the Old Continent and Canada devote 5 % of their gross domestic product (GDP) to their defense. The demand appeared at the time completely eccentric and inaccessible. Six months later, the 31 Allies of the United States in the Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) are now ready to offer Donald Trump a diplomatic success.
At the last meeting of the Defense Ministers on Thursday, June 5, in Brussels, Pete Hegseth, the American defense secretary, confirmed that the allies were “Very close” With an agreement to announce at the Haye NATO summit, on June 24 and 25, the new ambition of the Allies: to devote 5 % of their national wealth to Defense, while only two thirds of the allies devote at least 2 % of their GDP to this sector, an objective that had been set in 2014.
If the deadline to achieve this objective, which represents more than 1,000 billion euros in additional expenses for all allies, is still on debate – between five and ten years -, the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, justifies this unprecedented effort by the fact that “We live in a dangerous world”,, Citing both Russia, which pursues bombing on Ukraine, but also China and the terrorist threat.
You have 73.96% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Source: Lemonde