EU members need to substantially increase their defense spending and continue providing military aid to Kyiv, NATO Secretary-General said. Mark Rutte made the call during a speech to the European Parliament.

He 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. 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. We need only a small fraction of these funds to significantly strengthen [our] defense", - added the NATO Secretary-General.

In December 2024, the Financial Times reported that EU countries are discussing the creation of a joint EUR 500 billion fund to boost defense spending, fearing that Donald Trump’s 2nd term might see the US scale back its commitment to European security.