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"I expect that, in one way or another, even though perhaps the
2% will be kept, it will be kept more as a kind of floor than a
ceiling for defence spending," NATO Secretary-General Jens
Stoltenberg said during a visit to Spain.
"These are negotiations that will go on, but I'm absolutely
confident that the ambitions will be increased in one way or
another - because everyone now sees the need for investing
more," he added.
In response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula
in 2014, NATO leaders pledged to reverse the trend of declining
defence budgets, with allies agreeing to spend at least 2% of
economic output on defence from 2024.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February this year, many
allies have increased their military spending.
"I cannot tell you exactly what our allies will agree when it
comes to formulating the pledge for defence spending for the
next decade or so... but I expect that it'll be an even stronger
commitment to increasing defence spending," Stoltenberg said.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Marine Strauss; Editing by
Peter Graff)
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