Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Portugal, and Slovakia have pledged to increase their defense spending at the NATO summit in Ankara.
Germany intends to achieve the new NATO defense spending target of 5% of GDP ahead of schedule, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
Speaking about the increase in defense spending by European NATO countries, the chancellor noted that it has grown by more than 100 billion euros ($114 billion) over the past 12 months, with Germany’s share of this total being 25 billion euros .
The German Foreign Ministry said, in turn, that Germany could reach 5% of GDP by 2029.
“The Hungarian government has already decided to increase defense spending in a predictable manner, and we will reach 5% by 2035,” Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar told reporters.
Turkey expects to reach NATO’s defense spending target of 5% of GDP by 2030, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening of the NATO summit in Ankara.
Portugal plans to increase its total defense spending to 3.1% of GDP by the end of 2026, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told reporters. At the same time, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said that Slovakia will spend more than 2% of GDP on defense in 2026.