The allies agreed on a definition for infrastructure spending. This includes both existing and planned infrastructure projects, various military and civilian capabilities and even expenditures related to civil defense readiness — such as maintaining necessary defense stockpiles and supporting their production.

Tuuli Duneton, undersecretary for defense policy at the Ministry of Defense, said on the "Uudis+" program last week that conditions have been set for these expenditures.

"They should, in one way or another, be linked to supporting strong military defense, and they must also support NATO's actual defense plans," Duneton said.

"We can't just take whatever ideas countries come up with and declare them as NATO investments. These should be targeted. The execution of defense plans — both with military capabilities and supporting capabilities — has to stem from the defense plan itself," she explained.

Although the target is to be reached by 2035, NATO expects annual progress and will be evaluating it.

"There are quite a few people in NATO — military personnel, planners, people who know how a defense plan should be activated. Region by region, the areas where major military activity is expected have actually been identified. If a project is entirely separate from this plan or not directly connected, it will likely be quite difficult for countries to present it and for NATO to approve the expense," Duneton said.

According to Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200), Estonia has already more or less accounted for its 1.5 percent.

"It's possible to include infrastructure investments in that. For example, Rail Baltic can easily be counted. With those figures alone, we've likely already met the target. Cyber capabilities, too. This summer we'll also review investments aimed at boosting internal defense capabilities. For example, we've looked into reallocating around €200 million in EU structural funds to defense-related expenditures," Tsahkna said.

"Estonia doesn't need to do any sleight of hand here," the foreign minister emphasized.

Member of the European Parliament Sven Mikser (SDE) noted that the priority should first be meeting the 3.5 percent requirement, which comes with a very specific classification of what does and does not qualify as a defense expenditure.

"Defense ministry budgets in different countries include all sorts of things — down to brass bands. But NATO's competent officials are quite capable of distinguishing between what counts as defense spending in NATO's terms and what doesn't," Mikser said.

"At the moment, it's more appropriate to focus on reaching the 3.5 percent and ensuring that real military capabilities are actually developed — capabilities that are needed in threat scenarios in order to defend all allies together," the MEP added.

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