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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday (May 31) called on NATO members to jointly provide 40 billion euros in annual aid to Ukraine “fairly”, abandoning his original multi-year plan but promising that it would provide long-term prospects for Ukraine.
After chairing an informal meeting of foreign ministers from 31 countries, he said he “required” all NATO members to provide Ukraine with military support worth “at least” 40 billion euros a year “if necessary.”
Stoltenberg calculated that since Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine in 2022, NATO member states have spent a total of about 40 billion euros per year.
He said reaffirming that commitment over the long term “would provide predictability for Ukrainians.”
Stoltenberg had previously proposed that member states should invest 100 billion euros in the coming years. A diplomat mentioned that the draft proposal is expected to be implemented within the next five years.
But his proposal raises many questions, particularly about how much each country would need to contribute to the common fund.
Stoltenberg said work would now begin on the details, with the hope of presenting final conclusions at a leaders’ summit in Washington, D.C., July 9-11.
Stoltenberg said of the revised plan that contributions must be made “fairly” and mentioned the gross domestic product of NATO members as “an option we could study” to set the key for contributions.
The new 40 billion euros will bring the total commitment to 200 billion euros over five years, which is more than originally proposed.
However, because the commitment is not funded in the form of a multi-year plan, it must be renewed annually.
As a result, it risks being caught up in the unpredictability that comes with a change of government, which may be less willing to commit large amounts of cash and military support to Ukraine given the outcome of recent elections. Slovak The President has stated that Hungary’s position.
Earlier this spring, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban explain The country was given the right to “withdraw” from any NATO aid to Ukraine. It is unclear how this position will affect Stoltenberg’s proposal.
Support for Ukraine has also been Encountering political problems As NATO’s largest military spender, the United States may see NATO spending hawks Former president and candidate Donald Trump will return to the White House next year.
Meanwhile, according to Russian BroadCast Unitedligence, by 2023, Russia had spent $109 billion on the war in Ukraine. SIPRI Think TankBy comparison, Ukraine’s spending in 2023 is $64.8 billion.
Because Stoltenberg promised that the money would be “new money.”
However, it is not clear whether the money is being disbursed under the framework of NATO or the European Union, where the funds are set up. For the same purposeA NATO diplomat stressed ahead of the ministerial that the cash mentioned would most likely not be new money.
The Czech foreign minister, who chaired the meeting, said the amount represented 0.08% of the NATO country’s GDP, calling it “achievable.”
“But that means countries need to discuss it with their respective finance ministers. That’s where the details of the plan are important. We have time to discuss it,” he stressed.
(Editing by Rajnish Singh)
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