Belgian government to add one billion euros to defence budget

The Belgian government has promised to add one billion euros to the national defence budget by the end of the legislature, in order to meet the requirements of the NATO military alliance. According to De Tijd, defence minister Ludivine Dedonder (PS) will use this money to build up a cybersecurity force in the Belgian army and to replenish stocks, as years of cutbacks have taken their toll.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) and Dedonder will use this announcement at today's NATO summit to let Joe Biden know that Belgium has understood his message. By convening in Brussels, the US President wants tell Putin that the West is still united. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western allies have introduced an unprecedented amount of economic and financial sanctions aimed at Moscow.

The one billion euros is an effort on top of of the financial growth trajectory, which the government previously agreed on. With the injection of 10 billion euros, Belgium's defence effort rises to 1.54 percent of its GDP. This brings the country closer to the average of the non-nuclear European countries in NATO, which spend an average of 1.7 percent of their GDP on their military.

During this legislature, Dedonder has prioritized recruiting personnel and improving pay, after the Michel government initiated an ambitious army procurement program for over 9 billion euros. This included replacing F-16 fighter jets with F-35s from Lockheed Martin.

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