Insight
NATO defence spending: Money can’t buy you solidarity by Sophia Besch 6 July 2016
Flawed national and collective defence planning processes, differing strategic priorities and a lack of political will to contribute troops mean that ahead of the Warsaw Summit, NATO is not able to make the most of its member-states’ defence investments. But there are steps the alliance can take. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has declared that this week’s Warsaw Summit will focus on strengthening collective defence, and projecting stability beyond the alliance’s borders. Leaders will almost certainly emphasise the progress made since the Wales summit in 2014 in at least one area – the Secretary General will be able to announce that for the first time since the Cold War, NATO allies have stopped the downward trend in defence spending. But flawed national and collective defence planning mean that increased defence budgets do not always translate into higher combat readiness. In Warsaw and beyond, governments must work to ensure that higher spending leads to a stronger military posture for the alliance. NATO defence spending has fallen steadily since the end of the Cold War. In 2006, NATO members agreed, on a voluntary basis, to spend a minimum of 2 per cent of their GDP on defence. Despite this, the resources dedicated to defence continued to decline, not least because of the fiscal austerity across Europe following the financial crisis. At the summit in Wales, nations made the modest pledge to “aim to move towards the 2 per cent guideline within a decade”. Changes in Europe’s security environment, in particular the threat of a revanchist Russia, have made alliance solidarity a priority for Europe. To create an effective alliance deterrence posture in the East, European member-states must now take defence seriously and reflect this in their spending decisions. In 2016, after decades of shrinking defence budgets, the alliance is seeing results from the Newport pledge. In 2015, 16 NATO members increased defence spending in real terms, and 12 NATO countries increased their defence spending as a percentage of GDP. However, these numbers come with many caveats. US military expenditure declined by 2.4 per cent in 2015, while overall spending by NATO’s European members was down 0.3 per cent. But cuts among European allies were significantly smaller than in previous years and many governments have announced further boosts to defence programmes in 2016.
CER INSIGHT: NATO defence spending: Money can’t buy you solidarity 6 July 2016
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