THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday that all 32 members of the NATO alliance should do their part in defence spending and commit to the agreed target so that there would be no sense of “free-riding”.
NATO members agreed in principle on Sunday to boost their defence spending target to 5% of gross domestic product, as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Spain said it could meet its commitments without spending so much.
“The point of an alliance is to make sure that there is a fair burden-sharing and that there is no sense that certain countries are sort of free-riding on the defence commitment of other countries,” Mitsotakis said as a NATO summit began in The Hague.
“So I think it is important to understand that these targets…should be binding and they should be binding for all 32 members of the alliance.”
Greece is now spending about 3% of its gross domestic product on defence – nearly double the average in the EU.
It has asked the European Commission to exempt its 2026 defence spending from the EU’s budget rules as part of the so-called fiscal escape clause as it aims to spend 25 billion euros ($29 billion) by 2036 under a multi-year defence plan to modernise its armed forces and as it tries to keep pace with its eastern neighbour and historical rival Turkey.
Mitsotakis says this will help Greece reach the 5% target by 2035.
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(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Alison Williams and Kevin Liffey)
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