He made the call during a speech to the European Parliament, as reported by Politico.
Rutte added that NATO’s current defense spending benchmark of 2% of GDP is insufficient for future security.
"Right now, we are safe, but we won’t be four or five years from now," said the secretary.
He added that if EU defense spending does not increase, Europeans might need to "take Russian language courses or move to New Zealand."
“On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health care, and social welfare systems,” Rutte continued.
“We need only a small fraction of these funds to significantly strengthen [our] defense.”
In December 2024, the Financial Times reported that EU countries are discussing the creation of a joint EUR 500 billion ($511 billion) fund to boost defense spending, fearing that Donald Trump’s second term might see the United States scale back its commitment to European security.