NATO countries are rapidly delivering on the promise to spend 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) directly on defense. And 1.5 percent of GDP on defense-related investments.
This means that Europe is now taking a larger role in NATO.
This is what NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a press conference after the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels.
- What I saw and heard today cannot be compared to any NATO meeting I have attended. And I have been to many NATO meetings since 2020.
- Last year at the summit in The Hague, the allies made a promise to spend a total of five percent of their gross domestic product on defense. We can already see that delivery is taking place, says Mark Rutte.
He highlights, among others, Denmark as one of the NATO countries that is already up to speed with the NATO goal.
- NATO allies are working to deliver the forces and capabilities that are needed.
- Allies such as Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland are already at or above our investment goal, says Mark Rutte.
According to NATO's Secretary General, "all" NATO countries around the table gave input on how to quickly increase national defenses.
- We see signs of a new way of thinking and a shared vision of a much stronger European defense in NATO, says Mark Rutte.
According to Rutte, the European countries are thus delivering the more "fair" distribution of the burden in the alliance that US President Donald Trump has demanded.
In the first weeks of 2026, Trump sent shockwaves through NATO with his claim to ownership of Greenland.
The US president's long-standing refusal to rule out the use of military force to take over Greenland has led several European allies to question the alliance's survival.
But Rutte believes that NATO has now managed to move forward.
Both with the Arctic Sentry mission, which is intended to strengthen security in the Arctic, and through the rearmament of European countries.
- NATO is an alliance of democracies with free media and politicians from all sides who are elected by their populations. This means that there will always be discussions in NATO. It would be very boring if that were not the case.
- We have also seen it before in the 60s, in the 70s, in the 80s and recently. I am not worried about it, says Rutte.
He has been accused several times in the showdown between Trump and Europe of being too lenient with the US president's actions.
But Rutte believes that NATO has once again shown that after discussions, it "always" succeeds in coming together and focusing on the overall goal of protecting a billion people in the 32 NATO countries.
- We need a stronger NATO, and we will get that when Europe steps up its efforts. That is exactly what is happening now, so that the United States can focus more on the Indo-Pacific region.
- So I think we are stronger today than we were a year or two ago, says Rutte.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not attend the meeting. Instead, the United States was represented by Undersecretary of Defense for Defense Policy Elbridge Colby.
He welcomed the fact that the European NATO countries are now taking greater responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe.
This will free the United States to focus more on China, while the United States will continue to defend Europe with the American nuclear weapons that are located in Europe.
- There is now a really strong basis for working together in partnership.
- It is a return to what NATO was originally intended to be, says Elbridge Colby.
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