On his arrival at the NATO summit in The Hague the Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) spoke of Belgium’s ambition for investment in defence to reach 3.5% GDP within the next 10 years.
Belgian Prime Minister "I think that 3.5% within 10 years is a realistic goal"
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"We are not juggling with figures. I think that 3.5% within 10 years is a realistic goal. It won’t be easy, but it is what NATO considers necessary to on the one hand deal with the threat from Russia and at the same time ensuring that the burden is more realistically spread now that the United States is more and more focused on the Indian-Pacific region.
"So, we as European must take responsibility ourselves”, Mr De Wever concludes.
But what about the proposed 5% norm?
"Spending 5% of our GDP on defence is not really something that would make you happy. But it were necessary, we would examine what is possible. We have been given longer, with flexibility en route and an evaluation in 2029.
That is what we asked for and also what we got”.