Finance
Proposed 3.5% defence spending target not reasonable for Belgium, minister says
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 8, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 8, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Belgium's Foreign Minister calls NATO's 3.5% GDP defence spending target unreasonable, aiming to maintain 2% instead.
WARSAW (Reuters) - It would not be reasonable for Belgium to boost defence spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot told Reuters on Thursday after NATO's chief floated a proposal to adopt a new defence investment target.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has proposed alliance members boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for a 5% target, according people familiar with the proposal.
“To be honest, today it's already painful to reach the 2%,” Prevot said, referring to NATO’s current spending target which Belgium aims to reach this year. “We will do it, that's a crystal clear commitment of the Belgian government,” he said.
The country spent only 1.29% of GDP on defence in 2024, according to NATO estimates.
But the minister added that “going above, certainly to 3.5% during the same mandate - it means before the end of 2029 - I do not think it will be reasonable”.
“We know that staying at 2% will not be acceptable. But we have to find a path which will be reasonable, sustainable, in order to avoid also to break the social cohesion,” Prevot said.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer; Editing by Alex Richardson)
The article discusses Belgium's response to NATO's proposed 3.5% GDP defence spending target.
Belgium finds the target unreasonable and aims to maintain a sustainable budget without harming social cohesion.
Belgium aims to meet NATO's current target of 2% GDP defence spending.
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