Paytime: Over Half of NATO Fails to Meet Defense Spending Obligations

Former US President Donald Trump has for the umpteenth time lashed out at NATO countries who still fail to meet the trans-Atlantic alliance’s defense spending target. Who are they? Sputnik found out.

When he was the 45th US President, Donald Trump repeatedly made a point of demanding that NATO partners in the EU step up their defense spending, claiming that Europe was freeloading and using US capabilities without contributing its fair share.

The Republican presidential frontrunner’s latest remarks on the matter have prompted many to check whether Trump is right in his criticism of NATO members’ inability to deliver on their promises.

NATO's Defense Funding Mechanism

NATO does not have its own army but its military operations are staffed and supplied by member countries.

"Contributions vary in form and scale. For example, allies can choose to contribute a few soldiers or thousands of troops to a NATO operation or mission. Contributions can also include any kind of material, from armored vehicles, naval vessels or helicopters to all forms of equipment or support, medical or other," NATO’s website points out.

In 2006, NATO members agreed to annually spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on their own militaries to ensure the military readiness of the alliance. The commitment is tied to NATO’s Article 5, which specifically stipulates that any attack on a member country is effectively an attack against them all.

Invoking Article 5 – which only happened once, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US – is not automatic because all 31 countries would have to agree.

NATO Members Fail to Meet 2% Goal

NATO's defense spending target is yet to be achieved by as many as 19 of the 31 member countries, according to the recently released NATO estimates from July 2023.

Those failing to meet their obligations include:

· France (1.9% spent on defense)

· Montenegro (1.87%)

· North Macedonia (1.87%)

· Bulgaria (1.84%)

· Croatia (1.79%)

· Albania (1.76%)

· Netherlands (1.7%)

· Norway (1.67%)

· Denmark (1.65%)

· Germany (1.57%)

On their heels are the Czech Republic (1.5%), Portugal (1.48%), Italy (1.46%), Canada (1.38%), Slovenia (1.35%), Turkiye (1.31%), Spain (1.26%), Belgium (1.13%), and the worst offender, Luxembourg (0.72%).

Iceland, a member state, does not have any armed forces, which is why the country was omitted from the list.

NATO Countries Who Meet Defense Spending Target

Only 11 of the 31 NATO member countries managed to meet their obligations for 2023, the alliance’s estimates revealed.

With 3.90%, Poland proved to be NATO’s biggest spender, shadowed by the US and Greece which annually contribute 3.49% and 3.01%, respectively.

The other countries that met the 2% threshold are:

· Estonia (2.73%)

· Lithuania (2.54%)

· Finland (2.45%)

· Romania (2.44%)

· Hungary (2.43%)

· Latvia (2.27%)

· UK (2.07%)

· Slovakia (2.03%)

Germany Scraps Pledge to Meet 2% Target

As an example of NATO’s failure to be as one in terms of spending, the German government last year stepped back from its plan to commit to NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of the GDP on an annual basis.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet deleted the corresponding clause from the draft budget financing law, which the government earlier passed, at the last minute.

When asked to comment on the matter at the time, government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told reporters that the plans to reach the 2% military spending target still stand for Berlin. However, she refused to give any further comments on the change to the budget law.