«The Allies commit to invest 5% of their annual GDP in basic defense needs and defense and security-related spending by 2035, in order to ensure individual and collective obligations, in accordance with Article 3 of the Washington Treaty» .

This is what we read in the final declaration of the NATO summit in The Hague. Spain signs the document but essentially withdraws, declaring that it is committed to reaching 2.1%. And Donald Trump threatens: "Double duties".

The green light has therefore been given to increasing military spending. A very significant increase, given that until now member countries had committed to investing 2%. In detail, «the allies will allocate at least 3.5% of annual GDP, based on the agreed definition of NATO defense spending , by 2035, to finance basic defense requirements and to meet NATO capability objectives». The 1.5% of GDP will instead go «to the more general security sector» . The allies «agree to submit annual plans that show a credible and incremental path to achieving this goal», states the text, which provides for a review of the plans in 2029.

The countries of the Atlantic Alliance declare themselves "united in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism".

As anticipated and as requested by Donald Trump, the language does not provide a clear definition of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “war of aggression.”

Again: the allies "reaffirm their sovereign commitment to provide support to Ukraine". But the document excludes any mention of a future entry of Kiev into NATO , contrary to what happened last year in Washington, where the principle of the "irreversible path" was established.

There are not even any references to financial commitments for Ukraine - last year there were 40 billion a year - which, in fact, now becomes "a sovereign commitment".

NATO members then reaffirmed their "unwavering commitment" to mutual defense in the event of an attack . "An attack on one is an attack on all," insisted the countries of the Atlantic Alliance, underlining their commitment to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty on Collective Defense, called into question yesterday by Donald Trump himself, who yesterday had defined it as "interpretable" in different ways and today corrected his shot.

The case of Spain remains, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez who signed the agreement but reiterated that his country will stop at 2.1%. Today "NATO and Spain win", as well as "security and welfare", he reiterated.

There was a freeze between the Spanish Prime Minister and Donald Trump, who did not even greet each other . And the US President, in the press conference on the sidelines of the summit, said: «It is terrible what Spain has done, it refuses to pay its share, we will make Madrid pay double the tariff agreement» .

(Unioneonline/L)

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