Category: NATO

Speaking alongside Prime Minister Carney, Mr Rutte welcomed Canada’s decision to meet NATO’s defence investment target this year. “The fact that you decided to bring Canada to the 2% spending when it comes to NATO this year is really fantastic,” he said. He noted that, together with Portugal’s recent announcement to reach 2% of GDP this year, all NATO Allies will meet the benchmark in 2025. “That is really great news,” the Secretary General said.

In addition to discussions with G7 leaders, Secretary General Rutte held a number of bilateral meetings ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague, including with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. 

While in Canada, Mr Rutte will have a number of bilateral meetings.

Media coverage

• Photographs of the Secretary General’s participation in the meeting will be available after the event on the NATO website. Video will also be available for free download from the NATO Multimedia Portal.

For more information:
For general queries: contact the NATO Press Office

Follow us on X: @NATO, @SecGenNATO and @NATOPress

Hosted at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France and attended by various European Union (EU) institutions, international organisations, civil society and youth organisations, the EYE brings together thousands of 16- to 30-year-olds from across the European Union, and beyond. It provides a platform for young people to exchange views and debate with European parliamentarians and other influential decision-makers.

For the first time, the event included a dedicated session on NATO and provided European youth with the opportunity to learn more about how the Alliance works to ensure peace and security for one billion people across Europe and North America. The briefing covered an introduction to NATO, a panel session in which young Europeans were able to ask questions to experts about the Alliance’s core business, and a fast-paced location-guessing challenge with a French professional Geoguessr, Bastel.

Geoguessr is an online game in which players are dropped in a random location somewhere in the world. Using a 360-degree image from Google Street View, they must guess where they have landed based on the scenery, geographical features, or local elements specific to certain locations. To help educate young people about the Alliance, a specific version of the game was created with 35 significant locations from NATO’s history, such as the Palais de Chaillot, opposite the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, where NATO’s Headquarters was based from 1952 to 1959. By playing along with Bastel and NATO staff, the more-than-150 attendees were able to learn more about the origins and relevance of the Alliance in a fun and engaging manner.

The event concluded with an open conversation between the young audience members and NATO experts. Questions centred around today’s security challenges, NATO-EU unity in the context of defence, and how young people can help contribute to the Alliance’s mission.

The official visit began with Admiral Cavo Dragone participating in a solemn wreath laying ceremony at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to Greek soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

During his meeting with the Chief of Defence, General Dimitrios Choupis, and his staff, CMC praised Greece for its steadfast contribution with professional and committed armed forces to the Alliance’s approach to deterrence and defence.  The discussion then focused on the road to the NATO Summit in The Hague, and in particular about the call to Allies to invest more in defence.  “NATO must be ready to face any potential threat, coming from any domain,” said Admiral Cavo Dragone. “We are ready now, but we must continue to be ready in the future. For this, Allies have agreed on ambitious capability targets last week. And this requires an urgent step up in defence budgets, by each of the Allies.” In this regard, CMC commended Greece for “continually meeting the threshold of defence spending, and even investing well above the 2% mark.”

Additionally, in reference to the contribution that Greece provides for a stronger Alliance, General Choupis discussed with Admiral Cavo Dragone the national defence plan called ‘Agenda 2030’. The recent launch of the ‘Achilles Shield’ project was also highlighted, as an initiative to bolster the nation’s air and missile defence systems, which are part of the capabilities NATO has placed major emphasis on.

Mr Rutte noted that Sweden – NATO’s newest member – is “already making major contributions across the Alliance” since joining in March 2024, including through contributions to Forward Land Forces in Latvia, and leading NATO’s newly established Forward Land Forces in Finland.

“Your Gripen fighter jets help patrol the skies over Poland, and your ships contribute to our enhanced military presence in the Baltic Sea through Baltic Sentry,” he said. The Secretary General also highlighted how Sweden’s expertise in the High North strengthens NATO’s regional posture and reinforces the Alliance’s ability to support Baltic Allies. 

In 2024, Sweden invested 2.66% of GDP on defence, with plans to go further. “This is a clear demonstration of Sweden’s commitment to collective defence,” said the Secretary General.  Mr Rutte also underlined Sweden’s leadership in strengthening NATO’s defence industrial base. “You have a world-class defence sector,” he said. He welcomed Sweden’s role in defence industrial production, research, and resilience.

Secretary General Rutte also commended Sweden for its staunch support of Ukraine. “Since 2022, you have provided over 7 billion euros in military assistance – including 1.25 billion in the first four months of this year alone. In terms of GDP, this places Sweden among the top contributors to Ukraine.” He also welcomed Sweden’s investment in Ukraine’s defence industry, saying: “You are truly leading by example.”

Turning to the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague, the Secretary General highlighted the need for increased investment and stronger defence industrial capacity. “I expect leaders to make bold decisions to further strengthen our deterrence and defence – including agreeing a new defence investment plan that would bring our defence investment to 5% of GDP.”

In Stockholm, Secretary General Rutte also took part in a panel discussion at the annual Bilderberg meeting, alongside the President of the European Investment Bank Nadia Calviño and US Army General Chris Donahue. The discussion was moderated by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski.

During the event, participants from across the NATO structures, as well as wargaming experts from the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands, were able to test next-generation systems against traditional naval platforms such as frigates, corvettes, maritime patrol aircraft and submarines. The wargame was designed to measure and compare how emerging disruptive technologies perform, with findings directly supporting NATO’s Task Force X and enhancing the Alliance’s overall defensive posture.

NATO’s Digital Ocean Vision initiative aims to enhance NATO’s maritime situational awareness from seabed to space, by strengthening coordination between national and Allied capabilities employed for maritime surveillance. It includes a broad range of assets from satellites to autonomous systems below, on, and above the sea.

The Secretary General’s visit came one week after the unveiling of the United Kingdom’s Strategic Defence Review, marking a shift toward warfighting readiness and a ‘NATO first’ defence policy spurred by innovation.

The factory in Sheffield is a key catalyst for British plans to make their defence industry a driver for growth. There, the Secretary General met members of staff, including apprentices, whose specialist skills are contributing to the manufacture of nuclear-grade steel components for Royal Navy submarines.

Later, in London, Mr Rutte met Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street to discuss increasing defence investment and production as well as continued support for Ukraine. Speaking at Chatham House shortly afterwards, Mr Rutte thanked the UK for “more than seven decades of continuous commitment to NATO” and outlined his priorities for the upcoming NATO Summit.

“This Summit will transform our Alliance,” Mr Rutte stated. “We will build a better NATO, one that is stronger, fairer and more lethal. So that we can continue to keep our people safe and our adversaries at bay.”

He continued with a call to action. “The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence. The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.”

The Secretary General stressed that major new investment was needed Alliance-wide and urged a 400% increase in air and missile defence alongside the doubling of NATO’s enabling capabilities including logistics, supply, transportation, and medical support. “We all benefit from the protection our transatlantic Alliance provides and it is vital that every member of NATO pulls their weight” he added.

To streamline the growing number of applications for Multi-Year Projects (MYPs), the SPS Programme has introduced a new two-phase application process applicable to the recently opened call for proposals.

In phase one, applicants are invited to submit a short-form proposal, which will be evaluated by the SPS Office and the Independent Scientific Evaluation Group (ISEG). Only applicants whose proposals have been recommended for further development by the ISEG will be invited to participate in phase two of the application process by submitting a full proposal for second evaluation. Once submitted, phase two proposals will be evaluated and those recommended for award by the ISEG will be shared with Allies for final approval.

The application process for Events has not changed.

The simplified proposal in phase one will allow applicants to present their innovative ideas with fewer administrative requirements during the initial step, while those invited to participate in phase two will benefit from increased engagement with the SPS Programme during the further development of their research proposal. The new two-phase application process for MYPs will provide more opportunities for engagement with applicants early in the process, leading to higher-quality research proposals, clear relevance to SPS priorities, and the improved likelihood of successful and applicable outcomes.
 

The decision to open the Office, which will be the Alliance’s first diplomatic office in the Middle East, was announced in July 2024 at the NATO Summit in Washington D.C. It builds on three decades of deep-rooted bilateral relations between NATO and Jordan, and on the recent decisions taken by Allied leaders to strengthen NATO’s approach towards the southern neighbourhood. This includes increasing presence and visibility in the region in the framework of the Southern Neighbourhood Action Plan.

The NATO Liaison Office will bring NATO and Jordan even closer together, enhancing political dialogue, practical cooperation and shared understanding of the regional context. It will also contribute to the development and implementation of partnership programmes and activities, particularly in support of Jordan’s Defence Capacity Building (DCB) Initiative, among other projects.

The signature of the agreement will be followed by the upcoming opening of the NLO in Amman. This builds on a year of significant accomplishments in the NATO-Jordan partnership, including Special Representative Colomina’s visit to Amman last November, and last week’s visit of the Partnerships and Cooperative Security Committee to Jordan.

In a session titled “Transatlantic Defence: Who Pays? Who Acts?,” moderated by Claudia Major, Senior Vice President of the GMF, the Deputy Secretary General emphasised that European and US defence efforts must remain transatlantic and complementary. In addition, Ms Shekerinska highlighted that European Allies and Canada are “taking more responsibility and this will make the Alliance a more formidable military partnership.”

She outlined that the upcoming Summit in the Hague will create the grounds for a stronger, better, fairer and even more lethal NATO.

The Brussels Forum is an annual event organised by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States. The Deputy Secretary General participated in an on-stage conversation with other panellists, including  Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space at the European Commission, Maria Malmer Stenergard, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank.