De Wever on NATO: 'Europe's long break from history is over'
NATO’s European member states must recognise that “our long break from history is over and we must take responsibility”, prime minister Bart De Wever said on Wednesday at the NATO summit in The Hague.
Heads of state and government are meeting today with an increase in defence spending high on the agenda. Member states have agreed in principle to increase spending to 5 per cent of GDP, with 3.5 per cent on pure military spending and 1.5 per cent on related infrastructure.
“I think 3.5 per cent over 10 years is a realistic figure. It will not be easy to achieve it, though,” De Wever told the press.
He stressed that there were no opt-outs, despite Spain’s objection to the target. “Everybody accepts the same text,” he said, referring to the summit’s final declaration that members will adopt on Wednesday.
“It's a matter of interpretation. You have to do the 5 per cent and the capabilities. And the interpretation of Spain is that they can realise the capabilities without doing 3.5 per cent of the GDP. This remains to be seen.”
"We have to take our own responsibility for the security of our own continent in a very difficult time"
De Wever pointed to the threat from Russia and the reality that the US is shifting its focus to the Indo-Pacific region. “As Europeans, we should realise that our long break from history is over and that we have to take our own responsibility for the security of our own continent in a very difficult time,” he said.
Difficult decisions
“We always achieved these kinds of figures during the Cold War, but we have not been used to that for decades. We will have to take difficult decisions.”
De Wever and Francken arrived in The Hague on Tuesday with an agreement on the strategic vision of defence. This is the translation of the government’s plan to raise defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP this year.
“We have long been a bit of a ‘freeloader’ within NATO,” he said. “That’s why it was important for me to come here with an agreement.” He reiterated that Belgium had requested and obtained a longer deadline and more flexibility to meet the new goals.
Belgium does not yet have a plan to move towards the 3.5 per cent threshold. The government will meet again after the summit.
Geopolitical game
This is De Wever’s first NATO summit since becoming prime minister in February. He spoke of the importance of the organisation projecting unity.
“I think we should all watch our words, because we are threatened by emerging powers, on the one hand in the Indo-Pacific but also on the other hand by Russia’s armed imperialism. So now is not the time to roll down the street fighting,” he said.
European countries need to build their strategic autonomy over the next 10 years and thus “acquire capabilities that we do not have today”. “Otherwise, we will have to continue to suffer the geopolitical game rather than play it,” he said.
Prime minister Bart De Wever speaks with journalists ahead of the NATO summit at the World Forum in The Hague, 25 June 2025 © PHOTO ANP JONAS ROOSENS / © BELGA VIDEO MAARTEN WEYNANTS
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