Norway to meet 5% NATO goal on defence, security spending, prime minister says
OSLO, June 20 (Reuters) - Norway plans to raise its defence spending to 3.5% of the country's GDP, and also aims to use an additional 1.5% for broader security related purposes, its prime minister said on Friday, in line with a planned common goal among NATO states.
NATO chief Mark Rutte has proposed that member nations should agree at a June 24-25 meeting in The Hague to aim for spending of a total of 5% of their gross domestic product on defence and broader security measures.
"We must do more to secure our country and contribute to our common security with our allies in NATO," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference on Friday.
The 3.5% spending includes Norway's financial support to Ukraine's military defence, he said.
Norway in 2024 spent an estimated 2.2% of GDP on defence, up from a low of 1.4% in 2022, the national statistics agency (SSB) said in April, and the government said in May it aims to spend 3.3% in 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
What's the point of the UK talking to Tehran? More than you might think…
Europe's frantic diplomatic mission in Geneva may go down as one of its most arduous ventures on the world stage – and also one of its most consequential. The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany must persuade a battered Iranian regime to kow-tow to the US and Israel over its nuclear ambitions, or face likely annihilation. All three European powers would, of course, love to see the back of supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei's corrupt and brutal theocracy. But they rightly fear the regime's capacity to unleash death and destruction before it goes. If Trump joins Israel in the war on Iran with US bunker-busting bombs on nuclear sites, and it succeeds in killing Khamenei, there will still be plenty of Iranian hardliners left who will be willing to fight to the death. Previous inhibitions will not apply. That could mean use of a dirty bomb in the West, or chaos unleashed in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 90 per cent of the Gulf's oil passes. For the world at large, the stakes are that high. British foreign secretary David Lammy – after meeting his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington on Thursday – said that the UK was 'determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon". He thinks a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution, as Trump dithers over whether to attack the regime, as US neo-cons and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu are demanding – or whether to heed the no-more-wars mantra of his Maga base. And so, in search of a diplomatic solution, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is meeting with his European counterparts in Switzerland. But what can be achieved? For all their good intentions – French president Emmanuel Macron said the diplomats would make a "comprehensive, diplomatic and technical offer of negotiation" to Iran – the Europeans are unlikely to persuade the Iranians to pull back from the brink. At least not on their own. While one Iranian diplomat said Tehran was willing to pursue 'a balanced and pragmatic policy in its dealings with Europe, and engage rationally with both East and West', Araghchi said there will be 'no talks' with the US over Iran's nuclear programme while the Israeli bombardment continues: 'The Americans want negotiations and have sent messages several times, but we have clearly said that there is no room for dialogue.' But there is a useful point to holding talks on neutral ground with Tehran – and it's not simply to ask them nicely and face-to-face if they wouldn't mind stopping with their nuclear enrichment programme. Rather than relaying Trump and Netanyahu's demands to Iran, Geneva is about feeding back to the White House – translating Tehran's position for the US president. The Europeans aren't there to stop the war, they're Trump-whispering for the Ayatollah. It's not clear that European diplomats have the connections they need to have a greater role to play than this, useful though it will prove. But when it comes to a practical breakthrough, some of the Gulf states might, however. Behind the scenes, figures in what some dub 'Iran's deep state' – many of them members of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – are talking to representatives of Oman and Qatar; it might be these Middle Eastern countries that can make the difference, in a second stage of dialogue. Qatar, for its part, will likely hold more sway over Washington than London or Paris. All the peacemakers, though, will be battling the plans of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Nothing less that the obliteration of the regime in Tehran will satisfy him. Worryingly, Israel's premier appears to have been joined by an increasingly pro-war Fox News, with Sean Hannity this week declaring that Iran 'is the biggest existential threat to the entire western world'. The West should have learnt by now – after the disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya – that enforced regime change in the Middle East is best avoided. Andreas Krieg, a leading Iran expert at King's College London thinks regime change in Iran would 'not be clean or peaceful'. If the current theocracy falls, there is no significant alternative political-social structure to lead this country of 92 million into the light. The IRGC, a ruthless military-industrial complex, would not easily cede control of the Iranian economy. Instead, with 190,000 personnel and a similar number of Basij paramilitaries to call on, it might well create a military dictatorship. The West and Israel would be back to square one. And the Iranian people would be no better off. Ironically, the last time the West brought about regime change in Iran – by booting out, in 1953, the democratically elected premier Mohammad Mosaddegh (for which we have British Petroleum and the CIA to thank) – it laid the groundwork for the emergence of the current Islamic Republic in the 1970s. In between rounds of golf, as he ponders his next steps in the Middle East, you can't help wishing Potus would be shown – by Lammy or anyone else – the relevant pages of a history book. It is within the president's power to unleash hell – or stop history repeating itself. After the Geneva talks, let's hope he listens to what the Trump-whisperers tell him.
Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
Telecom Italia in talks with banks to sell 1 bln euro state credit, say sources
MILAN, June 20 (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) ( opens new tab is in advanced talks with banks to sell a 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) state credit the phone group expects to be able to cash in from the government after a prolonged legal dispute, two sources told Reuters. TIM and Rome have been locked in a legal battle over a license fee TIM was obligated to pay to the state in 1998, the year after the telecoms sector was deregulated. TIM scored a victory last year when a Rome appeals court ordered the Italian government to give TIM back the original licence fee, worth just over 500 million euros, a figure that has since doubled due to accrued interests. The government has appealed the decision in front of Italy's top court. Pending the top court's ruling, TIM is in talks with UniCredit ( opens new tab and Santander ( opens new tab to get financing against the expected 1 billion euro refund from the government, the people said. Such a form of financing, whereby a company raises cash from banks by selling them a claim, typically invoices, at a discount to the claim's nominal value, is called factoring. In a similar case to TIM's, the top court has ruled in favour of Vodafone (VOD.L), opens new tab. In any case, were the final court decision to be against TIM, the company would just return the banks the cash they have lent it plus any interest that has matured, the people said. That would be no different than repaying ordinary bank debt. TIM, UniCredit and Santander all declined to comment. Italy's top court last month delayed its final decision over the case, saying further checks were needed to establish whether TIM's initial claim was filed with the correct court. A hearing on the matter is expected next week. ($1 = 0.8632 euros)
BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Plans to remove £10k benefit from self-employed on Isle of Man
Plans have been put forward to strip self-employed people of benefits worth £10,000 on average from Isle of Man Treasury said about 50 people would be affected by the proposed change in eligibility for Employed Person's Allowance (EPA).The payments income-related social security payments are made to families and disabled workers with calculations based on a minimum number of hours worked.A Treasury spokesman said some claimants may not be declaring the "full extent of their income" which presented a "significant risk" of them being over paid. EPA payments rely on claimants reporting profits, which were "often unverifiable due to cash-based income and untracked hours", he the 950 claiming the benefit in December last year, 52 were self-employed, with payments to that group totalling £500,000 last occupations of claimants included a childminder, a children's entertainer, a handyman and home baker. Treasury Minister Alex Allinson said having "considered a number of options" it had been "concluded that EPA is not appropriate for the primarily self-employed"."Officers were unable to verify the income or hours worked by claimants and around 40% report earnings below the minimum wage, which raises questions about the sustainability of such businesses," he said the government was "committed" to providing financial support to workers "in genuine need", while making sure payments were "targeted, secure and reliable", he will be asked to support the changes at the July sitting of Tynwald. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
