Bloomberg: NATO Struggles to Meet Spending Goals as It Weighs Higher Target
(Bloomberg) -- NATO countries may agree as soon as this summer to spend at least 2% of their economic output on defense, a slight shift from the alliance’s 10-year-old pledge to “move toward the 2% guideline.”
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the alliance’s defense ministers will begin discussing the target when they meet in Brussels for two days starting on Tuesday, with the aim to agree on a revision by the next NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
NATO countries have pledged to spend more on defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, but many nations — including Luxembourg, Canada and Italy — are still struggling to comply with the old guideline. That makes it hard for NATO to significantly strengthen the target, which may lead allies instead to agree to a 2% floor, current and former officials and diplomats say.
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Update: NATO eyes fighting two wars – Bloomberg (RT).
WNU Editor: The key part of the Bloomberg article is this ....
.... The classified guidance will plan ways for NATO to simultaneously engage in a high-intensity so-called Article 5 conflict, where allies would have to defend each other, as well as an out out-of-area, non-Article 5 event at the same time, people familiar with the matter said. Article 5 is NATO’s mutual defense clause.