Latest news with #NorthAtlanticCouncil
Japan Today
5 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Today
NATO agrees to higher defense spending goal; Spain says it is opting out
FILE PHOTO: The logo of NATO is seen at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in the NATO defence ministers' session together with Sweden as the invitee, at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File Photo By Andrew Gray, Sabine Siebold, Lili Bayer and Ana Cantero NATO members agreed on Sunday to a big increase in their defense spending target to 5% of gross domestic product, as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Spain said it did not need to comply just days before a summit in The Hague meant to be a show of unity. NATO officials had been anxious to find consensus on a summit statement on a new spending commitment ahead of Wednesday's gathering. But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared on Thursday he would not commit to the 5% target. NATO boss Mark Rutte has proposed to reach the target by boosting NATO's core defense spending goal from 2% to 3.5% of GDP and spending an extra 1.5% on related items like cyber security and adapting roads and bridges for military vehicles. After diplomats agreed on a compromise text on Sunday, Sanchez swiftly proclaimed Spain would not have to meet the 5% target as it would only have to spend 2.1% of GDP to meet NATO's core military requirements. "We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, but we are not going to do so," Sanchez said in an address on Spanish television. Spain spent 1.24% of GDP on defense in 2024, or about 17.2 billion euros ($19.8 billion), according to NATO estimates, making it the lowest spender in the alliance as a share of its economic output. NATO officials argue big defense spending increases are needed to counter a growing threat from Russia and to allow Europe to take on more responsibility for its own security as the United States shifts its military focus to China. TRUMP CRITICISM Sanchez's stance risked setting up a summit clash with Trump, who has frequently accused European countries of not spending enough on defense and threatened not to defend them if they do not meet their targets. On Friday, Trump said Spain "has to pay what everybody else has to pay" and Madrid was "notorious" for low defence spending. However, he also suggested the U.S. should not have to meet the new target, as the U.S. had spent large amounts to protect the continent over a long period. Washington spent an estimated 3.19% of GDP on defense in 2024, NATO says. But Sanchez argued it was not necessary for Spain to meet the new target and trying to do so would mean drastic cuts on social spending such as state pensions, or tax hikes. NATO did not release the compromise summit text, which will only become official when it is endorsed by the leaders of NATO's 32 members at the summit. But diplomats said one tweak in the language on the spending commitment, from "we commit" to "allies commit," allowed Spain to say the pledge does not apply to all members. In a letter seen by Reuters, Rutte told Sanchez that Spain would have "flexibility to determine its own sovereign path" for meeting its military capability targets agreed with NATO. A NATO diplomat said Rutte's letter was simply "an affirmation that allies chart their own course for making good on their commitments" to meet their capability targets. NATO officials have expressed scepticism that Spain can meet its military capability targets by spending just 2.1% of GDP, as Sanchez has suggested. The targets are secret so their costs cannot be independently verified. "All allies have now agreed to the summit statement – which includes the new defence investment plan," said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Rutte had originally proposed countries meet the new target by 2032 but the deadline in the final text is 2035, according to diplomats. There will also be a review of the target in 2029. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
NATO agrees to higher defence spending goal, Spain says it is opting out
FILE PHOTO: The logo of NATO is seen at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in the NATO defence ministers' session together with Sweden as the invitee, at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File Photo NATO agrees to higher defence spending goal, Spain says it is opting out BRUSSELS/MADRID - NATO members agreed on Sunday to a big increase in their defence spending target to 5% of gross domestic product, as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Spain said it did not need to comply just days before a summit in The Hague meant to be a show of unity. NATO officials had been anxious to find consensus on a summit statement on a new spending commitment ahead of Wednesday's gathering. But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared on Thursday he would not commit to the 5% target. NATO boss Mark Rutte has proposed to reach the target by boosting NATO's core defence spending goal from 2% to 3.5% of GDP and spending an extra 1.5% on related items like cyber security and adapting roads and bridges for military vehicles. After diplomats agreed on a compromise text on Sunday, Sanchez swiftly proclaimed Spain would not have to meet the 5% target as it would only have to spend 2.1% of GDP to meet NATO's core military requirements. "We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do so," Sanchez said in an address on Spanish television. Spain spent 1.24% of GDP on defence in 2024, or about 17.2 billion euros ($19.8 billion), according to NATO estimates, making it the lowest spender in the alliance as a share of its economic output. NATO officials argue big defence spending increases are needed to counter a growing threat from Russia and to allow Europe to take on more responsibility for its own security as the United States shifts its military focus to China. TRUMP CRITICISM Sanchez's stance risked setting up a summit clash with Trump, who has frequently accused European countries of not spending enough on defence and threatened not to defend them if they do not meet their targets. On Friday, Trump said Spain "has to pay what everybody else has to pay" and Madrid was "notorious" for low defence spending. However, he also suggested the U.S. should not have to meet the new target, as the U.S. had spent large amounts to protect the continent over a long period. Washington spent an estimated 3.19% of GDP on defence in 2024, NATO says. But Sanchez argued it was not necessary for Spain to meet the new target and trying to do so would mean drastic cuts on social spending such as state pensions, or tax hikes. NATO did not release the compromise summit text, which will only become official when it is endorsed by the leaders of NATO's 32 members at the summit. But diplomats said one tweak in the language on the spending commitment, from "we commit" to "allies commit," allowed Spain to say the pledge does not apply to all members. In a letter seen by Reuters, Rutte told Sanchez that Spain would have "flexibility to determine its own sovereign path" for meeting its military capability targets agreed with NATO. A NATO diplomat said Rutte's letter was simply "an affirmation that allies chart their own course for making good on their commitments" to meet their capability targets. NATO officials have expressed scepticism that Spain can meet its military capability targets by spending just 2.1% of GDP, as Sanchez has suggested. The targets are secret so their costs cannot be independently verified. "All allies have now agreed to the summit statement – which includes the new defence investment plan," said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Rutte had originally proposed countries meet the new target by 2032 but the deadline in the final text is 2035, according to diplomats. There will also be a review of the target in 2029. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Russia Today
8 hours ago
- Business
- Russia Today
NATO summit to ditch Ukraine meeting
An upcoming NATO leaders summit in the Netherlands will have a shortened schedule, with the focus on Ukraine drastically reduced, Politico reported on Saturday, citing five people familiar with the matter. The summit, set to be held in the World Forum in The Hague from June 24 to 25, will only feature two main events – a welcome dinner at the Dutch royal family's castle and a single meeting of the North Atlantic Council instead of the usual two or three, according to Politico. There also will not be a meeting of NATO's Ukraine Council. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has been only invited to attend the welcome dinner, and it still remains unclear whether he will come, the outlet noted. The sources suggested the abbreviated schedule was a concession to the US and President Donald Trump in particular, who has repeatedly shown impatience with and shunned multilateral gatherings of a ceremonial nature. NATO officials reportedly pared down the agenda after the G7 debacle, when Trump abruptly left the summit in Canada halfway through the two-day program. He also reportedly opposed a draft joint statement on the Ukraine conflict, and the summit ultimately ended without one. The upcoming gathering is expected to yield no lengthy joint communique, with the bloc likely to produce only short statements on new commitments. Cuts to the agenda have also been attributed to a need to minimize the risk of derailing the main event of the summit, where members are expected to pledge to hike defense spending to 5% GDP. Trump has long demanded that NATO countries spend more on defense, and the new commitment will be regarded as a big 'win' by the US president, the sources suggested. 'He has to get credit for the 5% – that's why we're having the summit,' a European defense official told Politico. 'Everything else is being streamlined to minimize risk.'
Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Business
- Straits Times
NATO agrees Hague summit statement with 5% defence spending goal, diplomats say
FILE PHOTO: The logo of NATO is seen at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in the NATO defence ministers' session together with Sweden as the invitee, at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 15, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File Photo BRUSSELS - NATO countries agreed a statement on Sunday for their upcoming summit that sets a goal of 5% of GDP for annual defence and security-related spending by 2035, overcoming objections from Spain, diplomats said. The statement has the green light from all 32 NATO members, diplomats said, but will only become official when it is approved by leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump at their summit in The Hague on Wednesday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had blocked an earlier version of the text, saying that committing to a 5% target would be unreasonable and counterproductive. Spain spent 1.24% of GDP on defence in 2024, according to NATO estimates Diplomats overcame Sanchez's objections by adjusting the text on the spending pledge, changing the language from "we commit" to "allies commit", diplomats said. That allowed Sanchez to claim the commitment would not apply to Spain. "We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do so," Sanchez said in an address on Spanish television Sunday. NATO operates by consensus so all of its 32 members have to approve a statement for it to be adopted. NATO officials argue that big defence spending increases are needed to counter a growing threat from Russia and to allow Europe to take on more responsibility for its own security as the United States shifts its military focus to China. The alliance's current defence spending target is 2% of GDP but Trump insisted it should rise to 5% - although he suggested on Friday that target should not apply to the United States. Under a plan by NATO boss Mark Rutte, countries would reach 5% of GDP by boosting their core defence spending goal from 2% to 3.5% and spending a further 1.5% on related items like adapting roads and bridges for military vehicles and cyber security. Rutte had originally proposed countries meet the new target by 2032 but the deadline in the final text is 2035, according to diplomats. There will also be a review of the target in 2029. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Miami Herald
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Trump's pledge to lift Syrian sanctions faces a complex road
U.S. President Donald Trump says he's ready to ease sanctions on Syria. He won't be able to do it quickly. The American leader sat down with Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday - the first meeting between heads of the two countries in 25 years - after unexpectedly saying he would drop all sanctions against the war-ravaged country and even look to normalize relations. The move was seen as a highlight of Trump's trip to the Arabian Peninsula this week, but actual implementation will be a protracted and thorny challenge. The White House made clear it's not a one-way street, saying the president urged Sharaa to take steps in return, including cooperation in combating terrorism and getting rid of all foreign fighters in Syria, and agreeing to ties with Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will have to wade through layers of strict restrictions imposed on Syria over the past 45 years, covering everything from finance to energy. He met with his counterpart Asaad Al-Shaibani on Thursday in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Council gathering. Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his aides sat in on the meeting, according to video released by Syria's official news agency. Ankara, which shares the longest border with Syria and maintains troops in the country, is a crucial backer and partner of the current government in Damascus. It supported the rebels who fought the previous regime. For starters, Trump plans to seek a 180-day waiver to sanctions imposed by Congress, with the longer-term goal being to remove the restrictions entirely, Rubio told reporters right after the Antalya meeting. Just before Syria's longtime leader, Bashar Assad, was overthrown in December, the U.S. renewed the 2019 Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which penalizes almost anyone who does business with Syria. "Ultimately, if we make enough progress, we'd like to see the law repealed," Rubio said. "We're not there yet. That's premature. We want to start with the initial waiver, which will allow foreign partners who wanted to flow in aid to begin to do so without running the risk of sanctions." Earlier this year, the State Department demanded Sharaa's government show progress on a list of critical issues as a precondition for lifting sanctions. They included the items shared by Trump with Sharaa in Riyadh. In tandem and as a stopgap measure, the U.S. plans to issue general licenses covering a broad swath of the economy in the coming weeks, according to a Treasury official who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. General licenses allow for certain types of business transactions without requiring companies to apply for explicit permission. Trump can lift sanctions issued by executive order but some, like the Caesar Act, will need a vote in Congress to be repealed, according to Caroline Rose, a Syria expert and research director at the Washington-based New Lines Institute. "The road ahead with sanctions relief will be long and complicated," she said. "There are still many skeptics to Syria normalization and sanctions relief, particularly among Republican Party members." Another issue is that Sharaa, Shaibani and many other members of the present Syrian government are former commanders of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group implicated by the United Nations Security Council in war atrocities. Sharaa, who previously ran an Islamist protostate in northwest Syria, overthrew Assad in December after a rebel offensive. "There's a lot that needs to be done, including by the Syrian administration," Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told reporters Wednesday. "Syria won't be alone - the kingdom and the rest of our international partners will be at the forefront of those supporting this effort and economic rebirth." One immediate boost for Sharaa's government will come from Qatar, which has U.S. backing to begin dispersing almost $30 million a month for civil servant salaries, according to two people involved in finalizing the arrangement. That will provide at least a start for the new Syrian administration, which is faced with an economy devastated by more than a decade of war and in need of as much as $400 billion for rebuilding costs, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International peace. "We welcome all investors: children of the nation inside and outside, our Arab and Turkish brothers and friends from around the world," Sharaa said in a speech on Wednesday night. Supporters of Sharaa inside and out of Syria, including Saudi Arabia, see Trump's move as a brave decision that isolates extremists within the Syrian leader's Sunni Islamist-dominated administration. Some were involved in massacring hundreds of civilians from a minority sect in March in the country's coastal region following an attack on Sharaa's forces, according to Mazen Darwish, one of Syria's most prominent human rights activists. The move by Trump also helps further exclude Iran, Assad's main patron, and ensure China doesn't make significant inroads. Investment opportunities will instead fall to regional powers friendly to the U.S. such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. "The main concern in the business community has been that we don't want to be seen working with what has been designated as a terrorist government by the West," said Majd Abbar, a Dubai-based Syrian-American information-technology executive, who has lobbied officials in Washington to lift sanctions and met with Sharaa multiple times. "Now that these sanctions will be lifted, everyone is going to jump on board to invest in Syria," he said. "It's practically a white canvas - there's nothing there." Syria, which is technically still at war with Israel, has been under myriad U.S. sanctions since its 1979 designation by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism. Relations thawed in the 1990s when Damascus joined the U.S.-led coalition that ousted Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and engaged in peace talks with Israel. But after replacing his father in 2000, Assad deepened ties with Iran and was accused by the U.S. of supporting the insurgency in Iraq following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. That triggered additional sanctions by Washington, and further rounds followed from 2011 when Assad mounted a brutal crackdown against his opponents, spawning a decade-long conflict that killed almost 500,000 people and displaced millions more. Before Trump's announcement, many in his administration, such as Sebastian Gorka, were strongly opposed to removing sanctions or dealing with Sharaa, seeing him as a committed jihadist who is masking his real intentions. Gorka and others point to the fact Sharaa joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq after Hussein's toppling to fight and kill Americans as well as Iraqis associated with the post-Hussein order. At their meeting in Riyadh, Trump urged Sharaa to take certain steps, according to a White House readout of the conversation, which was attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Those include the deportation of Palestinian militants and other extremists from Syria, and helping with the effort to prevent the resurgence of Islamic State. Israel was quick to intervene militarily in Syria after Assad's ouster, launching a series of airstrikes on arms-storage sites and extending its occupied land in Syria's southwest. It also stepped in to defend the Druze community after violent clashes between the minority group and government forces. The country's attitude toward Syria "is more skeptical, we are approaching matters in a slower manner," Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, told Army Radio on Thursday. "We want to see that there really is stability in Syria, that this regime doesn't only talk, it also takes action." ---------- -With assistance from Dan Williams, Jordan Fabian, Fiona MacDonald, Julius Domoney and Natalia Drozdiak. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
