Defence spending by European Nato states inched up for the first time in seven years in 2016, the military alliance said yesterday, but still remained below the threshold the new US President Donald Trump said was crucial to achieve.
Trump made North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) states in Europe nervous when he criticised the alliance as “obsolete” during election campaign and then went on to suggest that he could make US commitment to their security conditional on them meeting the alliance’s target of defence spending at 2% of their economic output.
Trump has since reaffirmed support for Nato but insisted Europeans must “pay their fair share”.
His aides have said Trump wants to see progress on that by the end of this year and that Washington could otherwise “moderate” its support.
Nato said that US defence spending last year stood at 3.61% of its Gross Domestic Product, compared to 3.58% in 2015.
That compares to 1.47% for Nato’s European allies last year and 1.44% the year before.
Nato’s overall figure for 2016 stood at 2.43% versus 2.40% in 2015.
“There has been progress but the job is far from done, we still have no fair burden-sharing within our alliance,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. “It is realistic that all allies reach the goal of 2%.”
Stoltenberg said Romania was due to meet the target this year, with Lithuania and Latvia expected to follow in 2018.
“This is not just about a call from the Unites States and President Trump ... it is in Europe’s best interest to spend more on defence. We have a long way to go but at least after years of decline, we are now starting to see an increase.”
Europe’s low expenditure has long been a sore point for the United States, which provides the lion’s share of the alliance funds.
In 2016, the US economy represented just below a half of the alliance’s combined economic output, but nearly 70% of its defence expenditure, Nato’s annual report showed.
Defence spending by Nato’s European allies has been on steady decline since the Cold War ended.
But Europe has sought to reverse the falling numbers since its neighbour Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Combined with the growing worry over the spread of Islamic militancy and more failing states on their borders, this has given Nato members last year the first annual growth in defence spending relative to the size of their economies since 2009.
“When you are reducing spending at times of easing tensions, we have to be able to increase spending when tensions are increasing,” Stoltenberg added.
The decision by Britain, a leading military power on the continent, to leave the European Union has also galvanised the Europeans to do more on defence on their own.
Of 28 EU states, 22 are also in Nato.
Europe was last at 2% in 2000.
Only four European Nato members – Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain – met the 2% standard last year.
France came in at 1.79%, a tad below 2015, while Germany stood a 1.2%, just up from 1.18% in 2015.
Stoltenberg: It is realistic that all allies reach the goal of 2%.
