The short version
- NATO expects at least NOK 6.8 billion in increased funding for the Norwegian Armed Forces this year, according to VG’s information.
- This is to achieve the goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product for defense by 2024
- The Ap/Sp government seems to follow up on this in the revised state budget in May
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On top of the defense budget for 2024, the government must add a minimum of NOK 6.8 billion to reach NATO’s common goal for the countries’ defense spending, according to VG’s information.
There are many indications that the Ap/Sp government has already taken this signal, and will follow up in the revised state budget in May.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) promised that his government would achieve NATO’s common goal of a minimum of two percent of GDPGross domestic product (GDP), i.e. the sum of all goods and services produced in a country during a year. for defense purposes now in 2024.
– From the first of July, we have reached the two percent target, Støre told VG on 14 March.
– He (Stoltenberg) is aware of this plan, he added.
Facts about the two percent target
The NATO summit in 2014 decided that all member states must increase their allocations for defense purposes up to two percent of their own gross domestic product by 2024.
At the summit in Vilnius in the summer of 2023, NATO governments reinforced this goal. Two percent will now be a floor and not a ceiling.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the sum of all goods and services produced in a country during a year, minus the goods and services that are used during this production.
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The calculation
VG has received confirmation that the NATO staff in Brussels during the winter calculated the gap between the current defense budget and the two percent target for several countries, which is close to the target for burden sharing in NATO.
Norway is one of them.
By sharing these figures with each individual country, Stoltenberg is said to have wanted to put further pressure on those who have not yet met the target.
Burden sharing between allied countries is expected to be a major topic at the summit in Washington in July. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has threatened strong reactions against countries that do not “pay”.
Meets in 2024
VG has presented the information on NATO’s expectations of Norway to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre:
– NATO has its own way of calculating, he says.
– I want to repeat what we said in the Storting: That 1 July must fulfill NATO’s two percent target. The government will fulfill the commitment that Norway undertook in 2014 in 2024, says Støre.
18 countries in place
NATO’s calculation, that the Armed Forces must be strengthened by a minimum of NOK 6.8 billion to reach the two percent target, is to be based on this year’s adopted defense budget, and estimates for economic development.
In March, Stoltenberg said that 18 of NATO’s member states were likely to reach the target already this year. After that, Sweden has also made it onto this list.
In 2014, only three countries in NATO reached the target.
Connection
The ambition to reach the two per cent target as early as 2024 has been widely supported in the Storting. In several rounds, the government has spoken to the party leaders in the Storting about the design of the upcoming long-term plan.
– The reason why the government is getting more extra money already this year is that they want to join the two percent club before the summit in Washington this summer. They don’t hide that either, Conservative leader Erna Solberg told VG.
In 2014, Solberg was prime minister and attended the NATO summit that adopted the two percent target.
At the start of the pandemic, Norway was close to reaching this goal. But after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Norway’s GDP skyrocketed with extraordinary income from the sale of oil and gas, and Norway’s share of defense expenditure fell below that again.
