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The UK is expected to support the payment of NATO to all members to spend at least 3.5 percent of GDP of defense by 2035, despite Prime Minister Sir Kerr Starmer over when the UK will reach 3 percent.
After pressure from US President Donald Trump, NATO Secretary -General Mark Retty pays all members to agree to a much higher goal of 3.5 percent compared to 2 percent at the present time. An additional 1.5 percent will be targeted to areas such as security and defense -related infrastructure, adding up to 5 percent.
NATO Defense ministers, including John Healy, will meet in the United Kingdom on Thursday at the coalition headquarters in Brussels, and are scheduled to submit their approval to the new goal.
But it is likely that the timing is embarrassing for the work government because it tries to balance the defense spending with narrow public financing and a series of unwanted discounts that have been affected by a position in opinion polls.
On Monday, Starmer launched a UK student Strategic defense reviewShe was described as one of the largest reforms in the UK armed forces in a century, but she refused to adhere to a specific date of defensive spending to rise to 3 percent.
The Prime Minister said that “100 percent can be delivered,” but he still refuses to give an accurate date.
The support of NATO’s batch to increase defense spending by 2035 will raise new questions about where the money will come from. The Starmer government said it would raise defense spending on 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027, an increase of 2.3 percent, to finance it by reducing the international aid budget.
The target of 3 percent in the next parliament will raise defense spending above 85 billion pounds annually from 64 billion pounds in 2024, while 3.5 percent in 2035 will be strengthened by more than 100 billion pounds.
Trump student All NATO allies are committed to raising their defensive spending to 5 percent of GDP over the next decade, a level that US officials say will “equal” the burden of defense of Europe.
NATO diplomats said that the agreement on Trump’s request was a prerequisite for the American president who attended the NATO Summit in The Hague later this month.
Other leaders hope that by pledging the target beating, Trump will not repeat his threats to reduce American protection to NATO allies in Europe and reduce the deployment of American forces and weapons on the continent.
According to the plan set by Rutte, the target will consist of 5 percent of 3.5 percent on basic defense spending and 1.5 percent on credit cases such as cybersecurity and military transportation infrastructure. Most allies have already reached the part by 1.5 percent, which means that the basic defensive spending of 3.5 percent is the biggest challenge for organs.
“I assume that we are in The Hague, we will agree on a major goal of defense in a total of 5 percent,” Root said during a visit to the United States last week.
Downing Street refused to comment further referring to Starmer’s comments on Monday that the government was following the “NATO first approach”.
Lord George Robertson, the former Secretary -General of NATO and co -author of the SDR report in the United Kingdom, told the NEWSAGENTS on Tuesday that RUTTE was right “to get a goal … to have an ambition”, but he warned of actually follow -up countries through obligations.
“I can see that it will be very difficult for many countries to do this already,” said Robertson.
Additional reports by Jim Picard in London
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