Key events
Both Sweden and Latvia back raising defence spending to 5% of GDP among the nations in the Nato alliance.
Swedish defence minister Pål Jonson said his country, which joined the alliance in 2024 after a nearly two-year wait due to objections from Turkey and Hungary, would like to see Nato budgets at 5% of GDP by 2030.
Latvian defence minister Andris Sprūds, Reuters reports, said the 5% figure was crucial if the alliance was to meet its new targets.
Germany will need about 50,000 to 60,000 additional active troops under the new Nato targets, defence minister Boris Pistorius said in Brussels this morning.
Reuters reports that Pistorius said that Nato should make clear in its summit declaration that Russia is its greatest threat.
Ukraine’s defence minister said on Thursday that his country will receive up to €1.3bn for domestic weapons production in 2025 from allies after a conversation with his Danish counterpart.
The first tranche of €428m come from Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Norway and Iceland, Reuters reports Rustem Umerov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Secretary-general Rutte: Nato allies to agree on capability targets and considerable extra investment
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said on Thursday morning that he expects allies to agree on what he called historic new capability targets at the defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
Reuters reports he said that the goal was to better balance defence contributions between Europe, Canada, and the US.
Rutte also said there is a need to boost spending on air defences, long-range missiles, land forces, and command and control systems. He said it would be a considerable extra investment.
Hegseth: Nato defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP ‘will happen’
A defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP across the Nato alliance will happen, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in Brussels, ahead of the Nato defence ministers meeting.
Reuters reports that Hegseth said that to be an alliance, you had to be combat-ready.
“We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defence spending across this alliance, which we think will happen. It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month,” he said.
Welcome and opening summary …
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Europe, where today the main focus to begin with is the Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels. Here are the headlines …
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A defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP across the Nato alliance will happen, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has told reporters in Brussels
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Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte has said that new investment will equalise what the US, European nations and Canada have committed to spending. He said that Nato needed to invest in its capabilities to protect itself from being attacked
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Germany’s new conservative leader, Friedrich Merz, is due in Washington on Thursday for his first official meeting with Donald Trump
