NATO standard of 2% still nowhere in sight: “Promised defence spending decreasing”

On the proposal of Defence Minister Dedonder (PS party), the Council of Ministers approved the annual Strategic Level Report on defence efforts within the framework of NATO commitments. This shows that Belgium is moving further away from compliance with the NATO standard. “Less than a year after the launch of her vision for the future of Defence, the minister’s goals seem more unattainable than ever. She is selling this as good news by comparing the figures with the outdated 2016 targets. Especially now in wartime, when the pressure to meet the 2% standard is growing relentlessly. How long will NATO continue to tolerate this?” wonders MP Peter Buysrogge.

In 2014, all NATO member states agreed to invest 2% of their gross domestic product in Defence by 2024. The De Croo government has decided to meet this target by 2035 at the latest, more than 11 years after the deadline. Belgium has been one of the worst performers among NATO members for years. Minister Dedonder’s strategic vision of 2022 sets a trajectory to increase to 1.54% by 2030, nowhere near 2%.

A decrease instead of an increase

Last year, however, the agreement was to spend 1.39% in 2025 and 1.47% in 2026. But what do we find out now? “This recent text now refers to 1.28% and 1.35% of GDP The gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country, both by companies and the government. This term is usually used as a benchmark for a country’s prosperity. This is why the N-VA closely follows the evolution of the Belgian GDP. GDP , respectively. We thus see a decrease instead of an increase to 2%. Incomprehensible. That is how uncommitted the minister is to her own goals that she set last year.”

The path to the 2% standard a long way off

Minister Dedonder is convinced that the budgets will increase structurally in absolute figures, with EUR 352 million more in 2023 and EUR 341 million in 2024. However, GDP is driven by Inflation The increase in the general price level. The original meaning (literally “to blow up”) is monetary inflation, which means that the amount of money increases. Today, inflation primarily refers to price inflation. This means an implicit monetary depreciation. This causes the purchasing power to drop. inflation , which will make the target of 1.54% by 2030 impossible to reach, despite additional resources in the Belgian army via the STAR & Readiness plan. The path to the promised 2% still seems a long way off. “2025 should be the very year in which we have a growth spurt. Unfortunately, we see the opposite happening. If this trend continues, Belgium risks stagnating or decreasing in the long term in terms of defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP,” says Buysrogge, who is also the chairman of the Parliamentary Defence Committee.

Less information for Flemish people?

Remarkably enough, the Dutch-language version of the press release did not contain the same details as the French-language text. The N-VA is raising questions about the government’s communication: for French speakers, there is a comprehensive report supported by figures, while the Flemish people are only given the information that it has been approved. “The contempt towards the mainly Flemish opposition is nothing new, but the information provided by the government to the Flemish people and to Walloons must in any event be as identical as possible.”