Eighteen of NATO’s 31 countries will meet the goal of 2 percent defense spending of their gross domestic product in 2024, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, as quoted by Reuters.
“I expect 18 allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defense this year,” Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels.
adding that total military spending is set for another record year as Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine enters its third year.
European NATO countries will invest a total of $380 billion in defense this year, Stoltenberg added.
In 2023, eleven allies are expected to have met the 2% target according to previous NATO estimates – Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Slovakia. Germany will meet the 2% target this year for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
The new figures come just days after former US President Donald Trump shocked Europeans by hinting that the United States may not protect NATO allies that do not spend enough on defense against a potential Russian invasion.
Although the Alliance aims for each member country to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defence,
many NATO countries are not meeting this goal.
However, this figure is a guideline, not a binding contract, nor does it create “bills”; the member countries have not failed to pay their share of the general budget of NATO.
Defense Minister Todor Tagarev stated at the end of last year that reaching 2 percent of the GDP for the defense budget and even exceeding them is included in the strategy of the Ministry of Defense. The modern security situation requires an increase in defense spending, and these two percent, which until recently were accepted as a goal, are now only a minimum. He noted that Bulgaria should use the power of NATO, as an alliance, noting that our huge defense budget is equal to the budget of the Pentagon for 1 day.
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