Five NATO members pledge to increase defence spending budgets

Five of the 32 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have committed to increasing their defence budgets during the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. The five countries are Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Portugal, and Slovakia.

On Wednesday (8/7), German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Germany would reach NATO’s new defence spending target of 5 percent of GDP sooner than previously scheduled. Addressing the increase in defence spending by European NATO countries, Merz noted that the figure had risen by more than 100 billion euros over the past 12 months, with Germany’s share of the total increase amounting to 25 billion euros. The local foreign ministry stated that the country could raise the budget to 5 percent of GDP by 2029.

“The Hungarian government has decided to gradually increase defence spending, and we will reach 5 percent by 2035,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar. For Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope of reaching the NATO defence budget target of 5 percent of GDP by 2030. Meanwhile, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said his country would spend more than 2 percent of GDP on defence in 2026.