Some members are still struggling to contribute 2% of their GDP to the US-led military bloc, Warsaw’s defense minister has said
US President-elect Donald Trump’s demand for NATO members to boost defense spending to 5% of GDP will take ten years to achieve, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has claimed.
Last week, Trump highlighted disparities in defense spending among NATO members and urged European members of the bloc to raise their defense budgets to 5% of GDP, insisting they “can all afford” it.
While endorsing the goal, Kosiniak-Kamysz stated it “will take another decade, but I think he should not be criticized for setting a really ambitious target because otherwise there will be some countries that will continue to debate whether more spending is really needed.”
Poland is currently NATO’s biggest spender in GDP terms, according to the military bloc’s data. Warsaw allocated 4.12% of GDP to defense last year, and is expected to boost spending to 4.7% in 2025. Currently, NATO’s defense spending benchmark is set at 2% of GDP, a target that many countries have struggled to achieve.
Kosiniak-Kamysz suggested that Poland “can be the transatlantic link between this challenge set by President Trump and its implementation in Europe.” He pledged to use Warsaw’s upcoming EU presidency to push for increased defense spending, claiming that if the bloc “could afford to go into debt to rebuild after Covid, then we must surely find the money to protect ourselves from war.”
At the same time, Kosiniak-Kamysz ruled out deploying Polish troops to Ukraine, even as part of an effort to broker peace, saying that “border states are not the ones who should in any way appear with their troops in Ukraine.” According to the minister, members of the US-led military bloc should focus on indirect support for Kiev.
Trump’s push to boost defense spending has elicited mixed reactions, with some EU officials expressing concerns over its economic feasibility. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is running as the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor in February’s snap elections, has called the target “unrealistic.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko recently warned that NATO appears to be preparing for war with Moscow, adding that the bloc’s current course poses a danger to both Russia and the overall security architecture.
