(Bloomberg) — Slovenia and several NATO member states are seeking ways to expand the definition of defense spending as they attempt to meet US calls to allocate more funds on security, the nation’s prime minister said.
Like-minded alliance members aim to establish a unified methodology on defense spending in the coming weeks and present the proposal to Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary general, Slovenian Premier Robert Golob said in an interview on the sidelines of European Political Community summit in Albania on Friday.
Rutte has proposed that allies spend at least 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defense and an additional 1.5% of GDP in defense-related areas by 2032.
Slovenia, which joined NATO in 2004, just presented a plan that aims to spend 2% of GDP on defense this year for the first time.
Slovenia Plans to Hike Military Spending to 2% of GDP This Year
However, NATO currently doesn’t have a single standard on what counts as security expenditure, Golob said. Slovenia would support a motion to include investments in the EU’s defense industry in the definition, he said.
“We can’t afford to spend 5% of GDP on defense and remain competitive if we are unable to connect the two fields,” the premier said.
Slovenia’s neighbor Croatia is also expecting more details about NATO’s proposal before they commit to further defense spending.
“Regarding Rutte’s proposal, we are going in that direction and we have already committed to defense expenditures at 3% of GDP in the next several years,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told reporters in Tirana. “How much exactly we will commit to, we will see after the conclusion of the coming NATO summit.”
–With assistance from Jasmina Kuzmanovic.
(Updates with comments from Croatian premier in last two paragraphs.)
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