The NATO wants the Netherlands to invest more money in defense. The amount should increase by at least 16 to 19 billion euros per year. That amounts to 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product. Thousands of soldiers also need to be added.
Due to the increased threats, NATO has rewritten its plans to be better prepared for possible attacks and a long-term conflict, writes the Dutch Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans in a letter to the House of Representatives. “For that, allies must be able to deploy a large part of their armed forces within a short time and be able to maintain that deployment.”
To be able to do that, more money is needed, according to NATO. To achieve all objectives, according to calculations, at least 16 to 19 billion euros extra per year is needed. That money must be added to the current defense standard of 2 percent of GDP. The Netherlands currently spends just over 22 billion euros a year on defense.
Brekelmans adds that the Netherlands should mainly invest in air defense, artillery and, among other things, transport aircraft. In addition, NATO wants the Netherlands to get more manpower. An additional seventeen to eighteen thousand full-time soldiers are needed to achieve the NATO objectives.
NATO’s wish is substantial, but according to the alliance it is necessary to maintain the defense of the alliance. It is up to the cabinet to decide on the request.
Coalition Divided on Increasing Budget
PVV and BBB have so far not been very enthusiastic about increasing the defense budget. NSC was not earlier either, but on Tuesday MP Olger van Dijk announced on behalf of the party that they support the 3.5 percent.
The NSC’s plan is to work towards that amount in steps, namely by approximately 0.2 percentage point per year. At that pace, roughly 2 billion euros extra should go to defense each year.
Van Dijk wants to ask other parties in a debate on Thursday whether they also support the higher NATO standard. Coalition partner VVD previously called for defense spending to be increased to at least 3.5 percent of GDP earlier this year.
Rutte Already Proposeed 3.5 percent Earlier
Rutte already proposed the idea of 3.5 percent at the beginning of this month. He wanted member states to increase their defense spending to 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product. On top of that, he wanted countries to spend 1.5 percent on other defense-related matters. In this way, the member states would be able to meet the requirement of US President Donald Trump.
A new standard will be discussed during the NATO summit in The Hague on June 24 and 25. Trump is said to have threatened not to come to the summit if member states do not want to meet the 5 percent requirement. The American president has already threatened several times that NATO countries that he believes do not pay enough will no longer receive protection from the United States.