The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (not in the photo) talk to the media after talks at the office on May 13, 2025 in Berlin, Germany.
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NATO members would be difficult to meet the defense expenses of US President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister of Greece said CNBC.
The White House leader often calls on NATO nations to increase their safety contribution to 5% of the gross domestic product – you can solve Greece questions kyakos mitsotakis.
“I think 5% honestly is very, very difficult,” he said in an interview with Silvia Amaro from CNBC, on which it was broadcast “European early edition” Friday.
“If we are talking about hard defense expenses, I think 3.5% is probably a ceiling … which could in a sense be accepted,” said Mitsotakis.
He noticed, however, that a 5% sign can be a long -term purpose if wider expenses, such as critical infrastructure, would be subject to an umbrella expenditure.
“So it really depends on how we do accounting,” he noted.
Apparently NATO boss Mark Rutte suggested NATO members should increase defense expenditure to 3.5% of GDP, while obliging an additional 1.5% on wider security matters.
Many NATO countries have been historically fought for a lower 2% of the alliance, winning Trump's anger.
NATO estimates Suggest that the US spent about 3.4% of their GDP on defense in 2024, with only two other allies – Polish and Estonia – in this period allocating a greater participation in security matters.
Poland also undertook to increase defense expenditure to a level by up to 5% in the coming years, while other countries were more cautious, warning that such expenses could be difficult to manage for them.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also last week indicated that the country supported Trump's goal. The result of Rutte's suggestion was “in fact 5% demanded by President Trump, which he considers necessary, and in this respect we follow him,” he said.
At the end of June, you can make a decision regarding new targets related to defense expenses at the end of June.
In an interview with CNBC Mitsotakis from Greece, he said that Trump was right, demanding more expenses to defend NATO allies.
“Donald Trump was right when in 2017 he said that you were not honest because not,” he said. “We now understand that there is no free lunch and we cannot drive freely.”
Greece itself spent almost 3.1% of its GDP on defense last year, NATO estimates. Athens have been consistently exceeding the 2% goal for many years and began to increase defense expenditure in 2020 in connection with long -term tensions with Turkey's neighbor in matters, including naval borders.
“We spend over 3% for very specific reasons, and we also greatly in favor of a change in European rules to encourage us to issue more,” said Mitsotakis, adding that there was some progress in this area.
The fiscal rules of the European Union have been limiting the scope of debt and budget deficits that the member country may suffer for years. The European Commission has recently created movements In the direction of reducing fiscal restrictions as a part of a wider security package.
Talking to CNBC, Mitsotakis – which he has He said earlier The plans of the European Commission may be more ambitious – it was noted that it was also important to continue the discussion about the potential European defense support facility.