President: 'Essential' NATO members raise defense spending to 5%
Estonian President Alar Karis said it is "essential" that NATO allies raise their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP while attending a meeting of regional leaders in Lithuania on Monday.
Karis participated in the Bucharest Nine (B9) – mostly countries on NATO's eastern flank – meeting in Vilnius, which included top politicians from the Nordic countries and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The meeting was aimed at aligning regional positions ahead of NATO's summit in The Hague on June 24, public broadcaster LRT said. Military spending is expected to top the agenda.
After the meeting, Karis said he stressed the need to raise defense spending.
"Raising NATO defence spending to 5% is essential," he wrote on social media website X. "I underlined: Europe must take greater responsibility for strong NATO—together with continued US support."
He also reiterated that Estonia will allocate 5.4 percent of GDP on defense in 2026, putting it among the top spenders alongside Poland.
Raising #NATO defence spending to 5% is essential. At the #B9+Nordics meeting in Vilnius, I underlined: Europe must take greater responsibility for strong NATO—together with continued US support. #Estonia's spending will reach 5.4% of GDP next year. pic.twitter.com/pHB60M1yxE
— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) June 2, 2025
The leaders who participated in the meeting also made a joint pledge to reach the 5 percent target proposed by President Donald Trump.
The statement reiterated support for Ukraine and called for continued investment in Europe's military industrial capacity, including faster production, smarter procurement, and multinational defence projects, LRT reported.
All NATO member countries have agreed on Ukraine's membership, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, adding that it cannot be part of peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
The Bucharest Nine (B9) is a political and security cooperation platform comprising nine Eastern and Central European countries that are members of both NATO and the European Union: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary.
The format was launched during a summit of heads of state held in Bucharest in 2015.
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Editor: Helen Wright
