Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis is set to meet with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan today, Thursday, May 15, in Antalya, Turkey. The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers.
The primary focus of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting is the preparation for the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague, scheduled for June 24–25, 2025.
Key topics on the agenda include defense spending, strengthening support for Ukraine, and enhancing cooperation between NATO, the European Union, and Indo-Pacific partners.
During the discussions, the ministers are expected to outline each member state’s stance regarding defense expenditures within their national budgets.
Given the pressure from the American side, as well as from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, there are ongoing discussions about increasing defense spending by up to 5%.
Last week, Mark Rutte proposed that the 32 member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance raise their defense and security spending to at least 5% of their GDP by 2032. This request for increased defense budgets to has been reiterated by associates of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rutte emphasized, “I have always said that if we stayed at 2%, we would not be able to defend ourselves. Therefore, we must increase defense spending.”
By the end of 2024, 22 NATO countries had reached the 2% target set back in 2014. However, many others, including Italy, Spain, and Belgium, still fall significantly short of this goal.
