NATO Secretary General Says Defense Budget Increases Alone Are Not Enough

JAKARTA - NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised the increase in defense spending by his organization's member states, but said it alone was not enough.

Many NATO countries have substantially increased military spending in recent years, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and demands by U.S. President Donald Trump that European allies invest more in their own defense.

Alliance defense data released on Thursday showed that all NATO members are on track to reach the alliance's long-standing defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP, but only three countries have reached the new target set by alliance leaders in June.

Speaking at the opening of an ammunition factory in Germany on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Rutte praised the increased defense spending by alliance members.

But he said it was more important to convert the additional funds into military capabilities.

"Cash alone does not guarantee security," he said at a factory in the town of Unterluess owned by German arms company Rheinmetall, Reuters reported on August 28.

"Deterrence doesn't come from 5 percent (the alliance's new defense spending target). Deterrence comes from the ability to counter potential adversaries," he stressed.

Thursday's alliance estimates showed that, as of last year, more than 10 of NATO's 32 members had failed to reach the 2 percent target agreed in 2014.

Figures for 2025 show all allies achieving that target, with seven countries reaching at least 2.0 percent and several others only slightly higher.

Poland is the NATO member that spends the most on defense as a share of its economy, at 4.48 percent, followed by Lithuania at 4 percent and Latvia at 3.73 percent, according to the data.

The three countries are members of an alliance that is currently exceeding the new defense spending target of 3.5 percent of GDP agreed by NATO leaders at a summit in The Hague last June.

The leaders agreed to achieve that target by 2035 as part of a broader goal of spending 5 percent of GDP on defense and security-related investments, which includes things like cybersecurity and upgrading roads and ports to handle heavy military equipment.