Rutte asks NATO allies to commit 0.25% of their GDPs to Ukraine aid - Politico
Rutte’s proposal came in response to frustration among Nordic and Baltic countries (Photo: Inquam Photos/Malina Norocea via REUTERS)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has called on allies to boost aid to Ukraine to 0.25% of their GDP, a move that could provide up to tens of billions of dollars in additional support for Kyiv, Politico reported on May 12.
Rutte voiced the proposal at a closed-door meeting of NATO ambassadors late last month. He was speaking as part of preparations for the alliance's upcoming July summit in Turkiye.
If allies approve the idea, annual flows to Ukraine will effectively triple to $143 billion. This estimate is based on the combined NATO GDP.
Last year, Ukraine received $45 billion in security aid from its allies. The aid covered everything from buying weapons for the military to investments in Ukrainian defense companies and the NATO-led effort to buy U.S. weapons for Kyiv.
Rutte's proposal came in response to frustration among the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as the Netherlands and Poland. These countries are paying a higher percentage of their GDP in military aid to Ukraine than wealthier Western and Southern European nations.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed that the issue of disproportional contributions is regularly raised in closed-door meetings.
Rutte is attempting to secure support for Ukraine while minimizing divisions within NATO. Aid to Ukraine has been in turmoil ever since Donald Trump halted almost all new military assistance, leaving European countries and other allies to shoulder the full burden of helping Kyiv.
“We are going into the Ankara summit, which will very much focus, of course, on Ukraine – keeping them as strong as possible,” Rutte said.
Rutte's proposal has drawn skepticism from some allies, including France and the U.K. The proposal is unlikely to proceed in its current form.
Any alliance-wide target would have to be agreed upon by all NATO members. The idea of setting a 0.25% GDP target is just one of several being worked on before the July 7-8 summit.
In a further complication to aid calculations, some NATO allies, which also belong to the EU, want their contributions to the recently approved $105 billion loan to Ukraine to be taken into consideration. $70 billion of these contributions will go to Ukraine’s military spending.
The alliance's foreign ministers are likely to discuss the issue when they meet next week in the Swedish city of Helsingborg.
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