Dutch gov’t wants aid to Ukraine to count towards NATO defense spending standard

The Netherlands wants to count the support they are giving to Ukraine in the investments that they need to make in the Defense sector as part of the new NATO target. Caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof said that the NATO will allow this. The NATO countries are planning to agree on a target of investing 5 percent of their country’s economy in their defense and security. A total of 3.5 percent of this would go to “hard” defense investments.

This would mean that the Netherlands would spend an extra 16 to 19 billion euros a year on the Defense sector. It would be easier for the Netherlands to reach this target if they were allowed to include investments in Ukraine. The Netherlands will invest around 3.5 billion euros in Ukraine’s defense next year.

The support to Ukraine also helps to combat “the threat coming toward us,” from Russia, Schoof said during a parliamentary debate about the NATO Summit of next week. He sees an “obvious connection” between these two things.

NATO has determined what the NATO member states can designate as defense expenditure. Certain types of support to Ukraine can meet the requirements, according to NATO sources.

According to Schoof, NATO countries are still discussing the “precise definition” of the other 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, intended for support activities that also benefit defense.

The Cabinet is considering areas such as broad societal resilience and infrastructure. NATO diplomats expect that the Netherlands will have no difficulty meeting that part of the new agreement.

NATO countries have been trying for years to tinker with the definitions for the spending standard to make it easier to meet them. By reserving part of the new standard for “softer” spending, the alliance hopes to accommodate them and thus also reduce the pressure on the definitions.