News / Foreign Policy / Germany

European states yield to US pressure of ‘unreasonable’ military spending hike

Thursday, 26 June 2025 7:17 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 26 June 2025 7:17 PM ]

NATO leaders pose for a group photo with US President Donald Trump during the NATO summit held in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by NATO)

NATO member countries have pledged to nearly triple their military spending under pressure from US President Donald Trump, deepening militarization across Europe despite ongoing social and economic strains.

The decision was made during a NATO summit in The Hague, where European leaders met with the US president.

European leaders acknowledge that most countries can ill-afford increased military spending, yet they have committed to investing “5 percent of GDP annually in core defense needs as well as related security expenditures by 2035 to meet individual and collective obligations.”

The plan comes at a time when many European countries are heavily indebted and still recovering from previous economic setbacks.

While wealthier nations like Germany have welcomed the initiative, Spain has criticized the deadline as “unreasonable.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the goal “incompatible with our welfare state.”

Belgium has similarly indicated it will not meet the target.

Thousands rally in Spain to protest against NATO's proposal on upping members' military spending

Thousands took to the streets of the Spanish capital Madrid to protest against the proposal by NATO on increasing member states

Slovakia, facing significant budgetary pressures from the military build-up, has also resisted the goal, asserting its right to determine its own spending.

To increase military spending from the current 2 percent to the 5 percent threshold, European Union countries whose debt already exceeds 80 percent of GDP would collectively need to nearly triple last year’s military expenditure of 325 billion euros ($377 billion) to over 900 billion euros.

Britain, with debt equal to 100 percent of its GDP and already spending more on debt servicing than on any other budget item, would need to increase military spending by an additional 41 billion US dollars.

European leaders recognize that the planned boost in military spending will demand “unpalatable sacrifices in national budgets.”

Experts have voiced concerns about the plan’s feasibility, adding that Europe's sole aim in making such a decision is to appease the US.

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