Agency Report –
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reaffirmed that a decision by NATO allies to massively increase defence spending was motivated by members’ “own conviction.”
“I want to say explicitly that we are not making the decisions we are making in order to do anyone a favour,” Merz told journalists on Wednesday before high-stakes consultation at a NATO summit in The Hague.
“We are making these decisions based on our own insights, out of our own conviction that NATO as a whole – and this applies above all to the European part of NATO – must do more in the coming years to secure its own defence capability,” the German leader said.
NATO leaders are set to formally approve a massive increase in defence and related expenditure to at least 5% of economic output, a move which has been widely credited to US Donald Trump pushing allies to spend more.
NATO chief Mark Rutte labelled the development Trump’s “big success,” in a message to Trump published by the US leader on Tuesday.
“Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world,” he wrote.
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.”
