Dutch VVD leader backs 5% NATO defense spending goal

Dilan Yeşilgöz, leader of the Dutch center-right VVD party, has publicly backed a proposal to raise NATO’s defense spending target to 5 percent of member states’ gross domestic product, aligning herself with demands made by former U.S. President Donald Trump, BNR reports.

Yeşilgöz said during an appearance on the political talk show Buitenhof that she supports both Trump’s call for a 5 percent spending target and Rutte’s suggestion that the additional 1.5 percent be allocated to defense-related infrastructure. She confirmed her position when asked a second time on air whether she supported the 5 percent norm: “Yes, certainly,” she said.

The VVD leader, who has long advocated for raising the Netherlands’ defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP, emphasized that NATO military planners had substantiated the 5 percent target with formal analyses. “I think it’s very relevant that Donald Trump has asked for this and that the NATO military planners have underpinned it with analysis,” Yeşilgöz told Buitenhof.

However, Yeşilgöz clarified that the Dutch government would not be expected to immediately meet the 5 percent benchmark. She said she envisions a 10- to 15-year transition period for reaching the proposed level. “That does not mean the government must immediately comply with the norm,” she said, adding that it would be a long-term effort.

The proposed increase in defense spending is set to be the key agenda item at the NATO summit scheduled to take place in The Hague at the end of June. The discussion comes amid growing international tensions and calls for stronger collective defense capabilities.

Yeşilgöz also used the television appearance to sharply criticize Geert Wilders, leader of the PVV and a coalition partner in the current Dutch government. She condemned Wilders for his participation last Friday in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in Hungary, where several pro-Russian figures were in attendance.

“He spent his weekend partying with a bunch of Putin friends,” Yeşilgöz said, referencing Wilders’ attendance. She added that it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who currently poses a direct threat to Dutch national security, not NATO or its efforts to increase defense spending.