NATO’s annual report for 2022 shows that the member states have kept increasing their defense spending.
Russia and terrorism are the biggest threats to global security, according to the NATO report for 2022, presented on Tuesday by the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg. He also mentioned China, which continues to challenge the Allies’ interests, security and values . In this context, he expressed his concern about the possibility that Beijing might start providing military aid to Russia. The NATO leader called on the member states, in the context of the current security challenges, to increase their defense budgets to more than 2% of the GDP.
In fact, many of the member states have pledged to invest this percentage in military spending, but the threshold has been exceeded so far by only seven of the allies, that is, by a little more than a quarter of them. In this regard, Romania managed to rise up to 1.75% of the GDP, still being in the upper half of the ranking, in 11th place. The report also shows that the largest budget granted by the member states for defense, relative to the national GDP, is that of Greece – over 3.5% – followed by the United States.
Moreover, more than half of the NATO budget was secured by the USA, which provided 70% of the Alliance’s expenses last year. According to official data, 2022 was the eighth consecutive year in which member states increased their defense budgets, by 350 billion dollars compared to 2014. With Russia’s war against Ukraine, the intention of the allies is to increase this spending. Jens Stoltenberg declared:
„Many Allies have also announced significant defense spending increases since Russia’s invasion. Now these pledges must turn into real cash, contracts, and concrete equipment. Because defense spending underpins everything we do. (…) Our latest polling shows that 82% of people across the 30 NATO Allies believe it is important that North America and Europe work together for our shared security. And 61% agree that NATO membership makes an attack from a foreign nation less likely. NATO has enabled Europe and North America to live in peace for almost 75 years. But today’s world is as dangerous as at any time since the Second World War.”
In his report, Jens Stoltenberg also says that Russia’s attack on Ukraine actually hid the intention of President Vladimir Putin to weaken the unity of NATO and the European Union. A strategic mistake, the head of the Alliance says, because he underestimated the power of Ukraine and the unity of the allies in the two organizations. As a consequence, NATO now has a better military presence in the area, says Jens Stoltenberg, and the Alliance is preparing to welcome two new members – Finland and Sweden – which will double the length of NATO’s border with Russia.
It should also be mentioned that beyond the military part, the Alliance is currently carrying out actions to secure critical infrastructure, as well as response measures to hybrid threats in the context of technological advancement and digitization.
(Daniela Budu, Radio Romania International)
