Prime Minister Rutte and the leaders of six other NATO countries discussed the war in Ukraine, the possible accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO and the future of the military alliance at the Catshuis in The Hague. Afterwards, there was mainly unity: the countries say they want to cooperate more with each other.
At the invitation of Prime Minister Rutte and his Danish colleague Frederiksen, the Prime Ministers of Belgium, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and the President of Romania came to The Hague. NATO chief Stoltenberg was also present. According to Rutte, it was an opportunity to talk informally in the run-up to the “perhaps crucial” NATO summit in Madrid at the end of this month.
Take possessions
According to Rutte, the war in Ukraine was “of course” the most important topic. “Putin must not win this war,” he said at a press conference afterwards. “We want to express here our steadfast and continued support for Ukraine. And I again call on Putin to stop this aggression.” His Polish counterpart Morawiecki did say that NATO countries have not done enough to protect and support Ukraine.
According to Morawiecki Ukraine should receive more heavy weapons, something NATO boss Stoltenberg agrees. Morawiecki also concerns frozen possessions of rich Russians to be used to rebuild Ukraine. “We need to take the property from the war criminals,” he said.
More money for defense
Leaders consider NATO “the cornerstone” of transatlantic security. NATO boss Stoltenberg pointed out in the press conference that the countries want to spend more money on defense. The Netherlands is also going to do this, as it turned out earlier.
According to NATO standards, 2 percent of gross domestic product should be spent on defense. In the Netherlands’ latest plans, that standard will be met in 2024 and 2025, but no longer according to the most recent Defense Memorandum. “Now is the time to strengthen the European defense industry,” said Prime Minister De Croo of Belgium. †Made in Europe should stand for quality.”
Prime Minister Rutte also said he is confident that Finland and Sweden can join the military alliance, despite Turkey’s objections. The two countries submitted their membership applications last month in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, Turkey’s President Erdogan is obstructive, because he says the two countries support Kurdish militias. According to Rutte, hard work is being done to remove Turkish concerns.
–
