NATO chief urges citizens to ‘make sacrifices’ to up defence spending

Citizens of NATO member states should “accept to make sacrifices” such as cuts to their pensions, health and security systems in order to boost defence spending and ensure long-term security in Europe, the head of the military alliance said on Thursday.

“Today I call for your support, action is urgent. To protect our freedom, our prosperity and our way of life, your politicians need to listen to your voices. Tell them you accept to make sacrifices today so that we can stay safe tomorrow,” Mark Rutte said during a speech in Brussels.

“Tell them they need to spend more on defence so that we can continue to live in peace, tell them that security matters more than anything,” he added.

The former Dutch prime minister called on the alliance to “shift to a wartime mindset” and” turbocharge” defence production and defence spending. He warned that the 2% of GDP most NATO allies spend on defence is not enough in the long term to deter potential adversaries.

“If we stick at 2%, yes we are safe now, but in four, five years we might not be safe anymore and the deterrence might be too weakened to keep ourselves safe from whatever happens in Russia and other parts of the world,” he said.

The NATO secretary general admitted that while there were no imminent threats to the allies, the danger was moving “at full speed” towards the transatlantic alliance. “We are not at war, but certainly not at peace either,” he said.   

Rutte, who spoke to an event organised by the Carnegie Europe think tank, appealed to citizens of NATO countries to tell their politicians they support an increase in defence spending even if it means “spending less on other priorities”.

“On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health and social security systems, we need a small fraction of that money to make our defence much stronger and to preserve our way of life. Prioritising defence requires political leadership. It can be tough and risky in the short term but it is absolutely essential in the long term.”

“Don’t forget that in Europe, we are 10% of the world population, we spend 50% of all spending in the world on social security. So, in that sense, we have some room, I think, for manoeuvre,” he added.

A public debate on the issue is “crucial” and “fair”, he went on, adding: “If then people would decide, well, we are not willing to do that, we do accept the risk, at least we have done that deliberately. I don’t think it will be the outcome.”

To unlock further cash for the defence sector, citizens of NATO countries, especially in Europe, should also tell their banks and pension funds that it is “simply unacceptable that they refuse to invest in defence industry”, Rutte argued.

“Defence is not in the same category as illicit drugs and pornography. Investing in defence is an investment in security. It’s a must.”

NATO allies have been discussing raising the spending threshold, with a decision expected to be announced at a leaders’ summit in The Hague in the summer of 2025.

With the Russian economy committed to spending around 7% or 8% of its GDP on defence by 2025 and the UK moving towards a benchmark of 2.5%, EU countries are also discussing how to step up joint efforts to boost defence capabilities after decades of underinvestment following the end of the Cold War.

Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s newly-appointed defence commissioner, is proposing various options, ranging from issuing “defence bonds” to reallocating money earmarked for other EU programmes or repurposing unused funds.

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The European Investment Bank has also recently changed its rules to provide an additional €6 billion for Europe’s dual-use security and defence systems – but Kubilius said it is “wrong” to invest so little in defence compared to green financing.

“Next to €1 trillion (for green financing), you have only €6 billion for defence. This is something wrong, because in my view investing in defence is investing in peace,” the commissioner said at an event in Brussels earlier this week.

Eight of NATO’s current 32 members have not yet reached the 2% benchmark, including EU countries such as Italy, Belgium and Spain.