NATO risks splitting over defence spending gap, Lithuania warns

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda warned on Friday, July 3, that NATO could face internal divisions if member states fail to converge on the alliance’s defence spending target of 5 per cent of gross domestic product.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Berlin alongside the leaders of Latvia and Estonia and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Nausėda cautioned against widening disparities in military expenditure among allies.

"It would be highly controversial or contradictory if some countries will try to do more and will reach this target in coming years and other countries will fluctuate, let’s say at the level of 2 per cent or 2.5 per cent," Nausėda told reporters.

"It will split, naturally split, the alliance into two or three parts, and this is not very good for the collective defence spirit in the alliance and for our solidarity,” he added.

At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, allies — with the exception of Spain — agreed to aim for defence spending of 5 per cent of GDP by 2035. However, most European countries currently remain well below that threshold and face fiscal constraints, raising uncertainty over their ability to meet the target.

The Baltic states — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — rank among Europe’s highest defence spenders relative to economic output. Their leaders met with Merz in Berlin to align positions ahead of the NATO summit scheduled for next week in Ankara.

A central objective for European leaders at the upcoming meeting will be to demonstrate to U.S. President Donald Trump that they are increasing defence spending sufficiently, amid concerns that Washington could scale back its commitment to the alliance or take a tougher stance toward countries that fall short.

"The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday. He then singled out several European countries, including Germany, describing their defence spending as "Ridiculous!"

Responding to the remarks on Friday, Merz said Germany is making significant progress toward meeting NATO targets, which Berlin has pledged to achieve by 2029.

"Germany is doubling its defence budget within four years," Merz said. "This is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defence capabilities. In that regard, we have nothing to hide from anyone."

By Tamilla Hasanova