🔶 NATO Secretary General emphasizes increased defense spending According to Mark Rutte, the NATO member countries have increased their defense spending significantly since last year. Ahead of the NATO meeting in Turkey, Rutte emphasized that the European NATO member countries and Canada together are now investing four percent of their GDP in the areas of defense and security. Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, said he expects each member country at the Ankara summit to submit credible plans showing how it intends to reach the five percent target. Last year, NATO member countries, especially under pressure from Donald Trump, the U.S. president, agreed to invest at least 3.5 percent of their GDP in defense by no later than 2035. In addition, another 1.5 percent is expected to be allocated for defense-related costs, including infrastructure. Germany also intends to achieve the five percent target starting in 2029. Before the summit, Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, explained Germany’s planned increase in defense spending in a conversation with Donald Trump. Trump had recently called this spending “ridiculous” and criticized it. According to government sources, Merz, in a telephone call with Trump, stated that the figures the U.S. president cited are outdated. Earlier, on Friday, the German chancellor had emphasized that Germany will double its defense spending within four years. He called this move the biggest effort so far to strengthen Germany’s defense capabilities.