"Every NATO country must increase defense spending to 5% of GDP." This is what the new US President Donald Trump is asking for, reiterating his previously announced intention to urge the nations of the Atlantic Alliance to more than double the current target of 2% .

The issue is already being discussed in the European Union. As for Italy, "we have not yet managed to reach 2% and for now our objective is 2%, the one officially set by NATO. The next NATO meeting will be at the end of June, we will see if they will set another objective. For now it is 2", explained the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto.

For Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk , the current president of the EU, "a common space for defense requires common funding". This is because - he explained speaking to the European Parliament - "the era of convenience is over" , therefore, "we need to open our eyes and take note of the change in circumstances. Europe must start defending itself, it must also spend European money, the future is in us, not in the hands of China or the United States".

The Polish Prime Minister therefore invites us to "not neglect the challenge of 5% of GDP dedicated to military spending". At the moment the 5% target requested by the USA is still considered "unachievable" by the EU , except for a few countries, and Poland is among them.

The German government, for example, has stressed that for Germany, "5% of GDP corresponds to over 200 billion euros per year, while the federal budget does not even reach 500 billion."

Not to mention that the majority of EU countries already do not allocate the 2% established by the agreements signed in 2014 (Italy is around 1.5%).

The new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, for his part, has hypothesized a "middle way", that is, a target of 3% of the national GDP dedicated to defense.

(Unioneonline/lf)