Nato chief Rutte wants more money for defence
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged member states to drastically increase their defence spending to guarantee Europe's security. Two percent of GDP will not be enough to function as a deterrent in the long term, the head of the military alliance admonished in his inaugural speech in Brussels. Commentators analyse his statements.
Persuade Trump with clear commitments
Eesti Päevaleht concludes:
“It's unlikely that voters will be influenced by Rutte's words. ... Looking at the election forecasts, it seems more likely that populist forces promising anything but a broader commitment to security threaten to come to power everywhere in Europe. But Vladimir Putin, the Russian head of state, is not the only one who needs to be convinced that we will boost our defence. Donald Trump also expresses such contempt for NATO that it will take at the very least a convincing number to keep him on board. ... For instance if we all promise to allocate 3 percent of our GDP to defence.”
Resistance requires sacrifices
We need different politics, De Volkskrant warns:
“Since the fall of the Wall in 1989, the focus has been on individual development and private consumption which makes it all the more difficult to demand collective sacrifices. ... This development has been reinforced by the advance of populist parties. They are duping their voters into believing that there is no need for change, let alone to make sacrifices. ... The growing aggression in the world calls for a different brand of politics. A politics that demands sacrifices but also divides the costs equally. We need more defence: individual freedom can only be maintained through collective resistance.”
Point to a higher goal
De Standaard bemoans the lack of inspiring vision:
“Beneath the bloated military rhetoric is a yawning void. Rutte might have wanted to sound like a commander before battle, but something was missing. An inspiring vision about what we must come together to defend, the moral values that we have in common, our ideals and culture. A higher goal that puts the sacrifices in perspective. ... You don't have to be Churchill, but it should at least sound sincere, like something that Meloni, Orbán, Macron and Scholz can also back.”