NATO ministers discuss financial obligations

NATO-nation foreign ministers met in Brussels on Friday, March 31, to discuss meeting the transAtlantic security alliance’s two-percent GDP requirement.

Only four NATO nations—Estonia, Greece, Poland and Britain—currently spend the agreed 2 percent of their annual economic output on defense.

European NATO nations want to keep the United States involved in the security alliance, which U.S. President Trump has called obsolete.

President Trump wants every nation to pay its share, and also wants the alliance to focus on fighting terrorism.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said fighting terrorism was as much political as military.

“If we want a long-standing victory over terrorism in Syria, battling Daesh [ISIS] is not enough. To fight for the root causes is also necessary,” Ayault told his fellow foreign ministers.

“The cause is national reconciliation, the country’s reconstruction, the return of the refugees. All these are elements of the political process described in the framework of the U.N. resolution. So, I expect U.S. clarification on this point too.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said 2 percent was too much to spend. “I don’t know any politician in Germany who would claim that is reachable or desirable in our country,” he explained.

Britain’s Boris Johnson said his nation was committed to meeting the 2 percent goal. “I want to stress one thing, the U.K.’s commitment to the defense and the security of this region, of Europe, is unconditional,” he said.