photo. General Command of the Armed Forces Branches/Facebook
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the conference that in 2022 only 7 out of 30 NATO countries achieved the goal of spending at least 2 percent of GDP. defense GDP. Poland is among these countries.
At the press conference of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on March 21, he presented a report summarizing the main activities of the Alliance in the past year. According to the annual report, in 2022 the United States accounted for 70 percent of defense spending of the entire NATO, which exceeded 1 trillion dollars. In this ranking, Great Britain accounts for 6 percent, Germany – 5 percent, France – 4 percent, Italy – 3 percent, Canada – 2 percent, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, Poland – about 1 percent each.
As we read further, “24 Allied countries spent more on major equipment in real terms than in 2021. 24 Allies met the NATO-agreed guideline of 20% (regarding the share of modernization expenditure in defense spending) compared to seven in 2014.”
As presented in 2022, only seven out of 30 NATO countries have reached the goal of spending at least 2% of GDP. defense GDP. Apart from Poland, which spent on defense in 2022 2.42 percent GDPwere in the seventh Greece (3.54%) USA (3.46 percent), Lithuania (2.47%), UK (2.16%), Estonia (2,12 proc.) i Latvia (2.07%).
COMMENT
How can you peel this data? NATO countries, in large part, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine since 2014 and declarations still they do not allocate the Alliance minimum. This is a serious problem for the Alliance. The United States continues to hold the bulk of the armaments. Many countries think that the U.S. protective umbrella may be permanent or sufficient when it comes to security in Europe. The comments of former US presidents (not only Donald Trump) were therefore justified. It’s just that the countries closest to the source of the threat (i.e. Russia) already meet the criterion for financing defense spending or will meet it in 2023 (e.g. Romania and Finland joining NATO), while other countries further away attach less importance to the threat.
For NATO countries, it may be a big challenge for an isolationist like Donald Trump to take over the office of president in the USA (but not only!). Possible decisions to limit the military presence in Europe, although in accordance with the rhetoric, aimed at countries that do not meet the requirements of NATO funding, such as Germany (1.49 percent of GDP), Belgium (1.18 percent of GDP), Spain (1.09 percent of GDP). GDP) or Italy (1.51 per cent of GDP), in practice, they will hit the eastern flank countries first. On the other hand, it is worth communicating to allies on both sides of the Atlantic the need to increase defense funding, but also our own achievements in this area. Poland will spend on defense in 2023 over 4 percent GDP including the Armed Forces Support Fund, this level should at least be maintained in the coming years.
According to a report by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Europe is arming itself. According to the report, arms imports to European countries increased by 47 percent. between 2013-17 and 2018-22. For European NATO members, arms imports have increased by 65% over the past five years. At the same time, at the global level, international transfers in the defense industry fell by 5.1 percent. However, the dynamics are far too low in relation to the needs, after decades of neglecting conventional capacities and cuts.
According to SIPRI, the US share in global arms exports has increased from 33 to 40 percent since 2007. Russia’s share has fallen from 22 to 16 percent. The largest recipients of Russian weapons were India, China and Egypt.
The report emphasizes that in 2022 Ukraine became the third, after Qatar and India, the largest importer of arms in the world (recipient, of course, taking into account donations) and 14th in 2018-22. Ukraine accounted for 2 percent. global arms imports in the last five years.
PM/PAP/NATO