NATO chief hopeful of spending deal as meets allies in Rome

ROME: NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday he was “pretty confident” of getting a deal on boosting defense spending at a summit later this month, as he met European allies in Rome.

He joined foreign ministers and diplomats from Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Poland, Spain, Ukraine and the EU to discuss defense spending and their support for Kyiv, as Russia escalates its bombardments.

The meeting of the so-called “Weimar+” group comes ahead of a G7 summit in Canada on June 15-17, where allies will push US President Donald Trump to be more aggressive in punishing the Kremlin.

It will be followed by a NATO meeting in The Hague on June 24-25, where the focus will be reaching a deal that satisfies Trump’s demands to spend five percent of GDP on defense.

Rutte is urging NATO members to commit to 3.5 percent of GDP on direct military spending by 2032, and an additional 1.5 percent on broader security-related expenditure.