According to the report released today, on the eve of the Madrid summit, in which the strengthening of investments of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be discussed in light of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, this is the eighth year in a row that European allies have witnessed. Canada has increased defense spending since 2014, NATO members committed to investing 2% of GDP in this area.
The document is still based only on estimates, and predicts that this year the member states of the organization will increase expenditures by 1.2% compared to 2021, although the lowest annual growth in the past eight years (last year, for example, was the increase compared to 2020). ). 3.1% and in 2020 the growth is 4.9% compared to 2019).
According to estimates, nine countries this year have reached or exceeded the 2% of GDP target for defense – Greece, the US, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, the UK, Latvia, Croatia and Slovakia – a target that Portugal remains a target for. Far, with 1.44%, the same value as Germany, and even so, above countries like Canada (1.27%) and Spain (1.01%).
In September 2014, a few months after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, NATO leaders, assembled at a summit in Wales, set a 2% target. The national gross domestic
“Today, we are releasing new defense spending figures, which show that 2022 will be the eighth consecutive year of increases between European allies and Canada. By the end of the year, they will have invested more than an additional $350 billion (over €330 billion) since we agreed to Our commitment to defense investment in 2014,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said today.
In his “pick up” of the situation among allies, the Norwegian leader noted that “nine are currently reaching or exceeding the 2% target, 19 have concrete plans to achieve this by 2024 and five others have clear commitments to meet them at a later date”, but emphasized that the reference 2% of GDP is “increasingly considered the minimum rather than the maximum”, given current needs.
In time for the Madrid summit, on Wednesday and Thursday, NATO member states were expected to present more detailed plans for how they intend to meet their defense investment commitments.
Last April, Prime Minister Antonio Costa indicated there was an internationally agreed timetable for the development of defense investment over the next few years, but added that there were “two goals”, depending on Portugal’s ability to mobilize resources from the European Defense Fund.
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Lusa / end
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