Belgium has confirmed its commitment to gradually increase defence spending to meet the 2%-of-GDP target set by NATO - and stressed insistently by U.S. President Donald Trump - but has not set a timeline, Prime Minister Charles Michel indicated on Thursday. "We have again confirmed our Wales commitments; that means there is movement towards the 2%,” he said at the end of the two-day NATO Summit in Brussels, at which Trump pressed his allies to accelerate increases in their military budgets.
The Belgian Prime Minister refused to mention any timeline for achieving this objective, stressing that the issue would remain on the agenda of his government and would be discussed in the next legislature.
He also said it was “not realistic” to expect Belgium and many of the other countries to meet the 2% target by next year.
The Brussels Times
