The caretaker cabinet wants to commit to the new NATO standard of 5 percent. Defense spending must therefore increase significantly in the coming years. This involves an additional 16 to 19 billion euros annually. The House of Representatives must still agree.
The intention is that the members of the alliance will agree on higher defense spending at the upcoming NATO summit. That summit will take place in The Hague in a week and a half. As the host country, the cabinet wants to set a good example and commit to the proposal of NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Currently, members of the alliance must spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. Rutte wants to raise this standard to 5 percent. Part of the amount (1.5 percent) may go to defense-related matters, such as infrastructure.
The House of Representatives will debate NATO on Tuesday evening. It must then become clear whether the caretaker cabinet will receive the mandate to put on a good show at the summit.
If the Netherlands wants to comply with this agreement, an additional 16 to 19 billion euros per year will be needed in the long term. That is a gigantic amount and will have to be paid for somehow.
Cabinet has no detailed plan yet
The Netherlands will mainly have to invest in air defense, artillery and, among other things, transport aircraft. Furthermore, more manpower is needed. According to NATO, seventeen to eighteen thousand extra soldiers are needed.
The cabinet has not yet figured out where the extra billions should come from. There is a good chance that this will be on the plate of the next cabinet.
Moreover, the deadline for NATO countries to meet the new standard is still unknown. The year 2032 is currently being mentioned in the corridors. The heads of government will make agreements about this at the summit.
The member states had to meet the current standard of 2 percent, which was established in 2014, within ten years. There are still countries that spend much less on their defense. Spain and Belgium, for example, are at 1.3 percent of their GDP.