Kaja Kallas rings the bell as she waits for Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte before a Defence Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 20, 2024.
Photo: John Thys / AFP
Italy poured cold water on the suggestion it must immediately increase spending levels.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with European defence heads in Rome on Thursday, just days after he (again) warned countries that don’t quickly up their defence spending they may have to learn to speak Russian instead.
This really was a dress rehearsal—or, as Rutte himself put it, a “buildup”—for the June 24-25th NATO summit, where any serious announcements are more likely to be made.
Although an apparent ridge did emerge during the day’s proceedings when Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his country needs at least 10 years to raise defence spending, despite Rutte’s claim that the West won’t be safe “three to five years from now.”
As well as urging Europe to increase defence spending, the NATO boss also stressed the importance of increasing “defence production lines,” saying this issue was “really keeping me up at night.”
The foreign minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, was also present at the talks. So too were foreign affairs officials from Germany, Poland, and the wider European Union, who again reiterated their ‘support’ for Ukraine and said they would continue to increase pressure against Russia. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas expressed her particular hope that the bloc’s latest sanctions package against Moscow will move forward quickly, although this looks unlikely.
Ahead of the press conference, Rutte also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who also “reaffirmed support for Ukraine,’ while stressing the “importance of a comprehensive approach to Euro-Atlantic security.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
