NATO Summit: Greece at the Forefront of Collective Defence - EUROPE SAYS
ATHENS – The NATO summit, in which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will participate, is taking place at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty and one year after the Hague summit, during which. . .
ATHENS – The NATO summit, in which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will participate, is taking place at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty and one year after the Hague summit, during which alliance leaders agreed to a significant upgrade of collective defence commitments. The central focus of the meeting will be an assessment of allies’ progress in meeting their commitment to spend 5% of GDP annually on defence by 2035, amid growing calls for a stronger European contribution to collective defence and a fairer burden-sharing arrangement at the centre of the transatlantic debate. According to government sources, Greece is approaching the summit with the confidence of a strong and reliable ally that not only consistently honours its commitments but is also among the alliance members already implementing the goals agreed in The Hague. Greece has already exceeded the Defence Investment Pledge agreed for 2025 and ranks among the top five NATO countries that have already achieved, as of 2026, the target of 3. 5% of GDP for purely defence spending (and the additional target of 1. 5%). Specifically, Greece’s purely defence spending for 2026 is estimated at 3. 6% of GDP, compared with 2. 75% in 2025 and 2. 74% in 2024. In this way, Greece maintains and strengthens-through its 12-year, 25-billion euros programme to modernise its armed forces-its position within the core group of alliance countries that consistently exceed NATO defence spending commitments. The other countries that have already exceeded the relevant Hague target are Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The alliance’s commitment to total spending of 5% of GDP by 2035 provides for 3. 5% for purely military expenditure and 1. 5% for broader security and defence investments, such as dual-use infrastructure, support for the defence industry and resilience measures. According to the same sources, Greece has consistently demonstrated its commitment to alliance obligations. Even during the fiscal crisis, it continued to exceed its previous target of 2% of GDP, at a time when many alliance countries were still falling short of their respective commitments. The debate over a fairer sharing of the defence burden among allies is now at the heart of the transatlantic relationship. Greece is among the countries that have consistently made a substantial contribution to NATO’s collective defence, confirming in practice that Europe’s security is a shared responsibility. The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was among the first European leaders to highlight the need for Europe to invest more and more effectively in its collective defence, strengthen the European defence industrial base and forge a stronger European pillar within NATO. He has also repeatedly emphasised that the European Union must support this effort through new European financing instruments, including joint borrowing for defence. Greece’s position remains firm: a Europe with stronger defence capabilities does not compete with the United States but rather serves as a stronger and more reliable partner, ultimately contributing to a stronger NATO. The summit’s programme begins on Tuesday evening with a dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife in honour of NATO leaders. Also attending the dinner will be the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the Presidents of Ukraine and South Korea. It should be noted that no meeting between the Greek Premier and the President of Türkiye is scheduled on the sidelines of the summit.