NATO members are discussing increased defence spending at the summit in Vilnius

Leaders from the Bucharest Nine, the Baltic states, and the five Nordic countries are gathering in Vilnius today to coordinate a unified stance ahead of NATO’s June 24–25 summit in The Hague.

Hosted by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda at the Palace of the Grand Dukes, the summit brings together leaders from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Bucharest Nine group, which includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are attending as guests.

Discussions at the Vilnius Summit will focus on preparations for the NATO Summit to be held in The Hague on 24–25 June. Items on the agenda will include increasing NATO members’ defence spending, supporting Ukraine on its path towards a just and lasting peace and deepening Euro-Atlantic security cooperation.

“Russia’s ongoing unlawful war of aggression in Ukraine is seriously weakening the security situation in Europe. Support for Ukraine also supports Euro-Atlantic security as a whole. At the same time, we have to understand that Russia will continue to be a major threat to Europe going forward. The best way we can support Ukraine and European security is by making a strong commitment to raising the level of defence spending and increasing defence industry capacity at the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague,” said Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo attendng the gathering.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday that he assumes alliance members will agree to a broad defence spending target of 5% of gross domestic product during a summit in The Hague next month.

"I assume that in The Hague we will agree on a high defence spend target of in total 5%," Rutte said at a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Dayton.

"Let's say that this 5%, but I will not say what is the individual breakup, but it will be considerably north of 3% when it comes to the hard spend, and it will be also a target on defence-related spending," he added.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Rutte had proposed NATO members raise defence spending to 3.5% of their GDP, and a further 1.5% on broader security-related items to meet U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for a 5% target.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said earlier this month that "Rutte has sent a letter to all NATO members to say that he expects that the commitment at the NATO summit will be 3.5% on hard military spending, to be reached in 2032, and 1.5% on related spending such as on infrastructure, cyber security, and similar things also to be reached by 2032".

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