The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said on Wednesday that the new NATO investment target of 5% of GDP spending on defence guarantees "some flexibility" in terms of time by removing mandatory annual targets.
"This is a summit where allies have committed to achieving, over a period of 10 years, a direct investment in security and defence of 3.5%, plus an additional 1.5% indirectly. I know that this target is even more ambitious than the previous one [of 2%] and that, for this very reason, intense negotiations were necessary, in which Portugal, with the discretion that these procedures require, actively contributed to achieving a credible plan to meet these targets,” said Luís Montenegro.
Speaking to Portuguese journalists on the sidelines of the NATO summit, marked by the commitment of the 32 allies to allocate 5% of their GDP to defence, the head of government underlined Portugal’s efforts “to ensure some flexibility because […] it is particularly ambitious”.
“Firstly, we obtained an extension of the deadline for meeting these targets, which was initially set in several of the proposals to be achieved by 2030, and at the end of this summit it will be enshrined that this objective is, on the other hand, until 2035,” he pointed out.
In addition, "it was also important to introduce a context of no fixed ceilings or annual increase percentages, which does not mean that each ally should not have a credible process for increasing investment in the area of defence, but without imposing annual targets", he said.
According to Luís Montenegro, a "strategic review clause in 2029 was also introduced, depending on developments in the geopolitical context, the strategic context and the possibility of achieving some of the capability targets", he added.
NATO allies agreed today to spend, by 2035, 3.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on traditional military spending (armed forces, equipment and training) and an additional 1.5% of GDP on dual-use civilian and military infrastructure (such as cybersecurity, preparedness and strategic resilience).
The summit was marked by the presence of US President Donald Trump, who has been pressuring allies, especially European ones, to allocate more funds to defence and express controversial positions.
When asked today about the relationship between Lisbon and Washington, Luís Montenegro stressed: “We are partners of the United States, we are allies of the United States and there is no doubt about that”.
“Of course, this does not mean that we cannot critically assess each position, and we have done so in accordance with the circumstances,” the head of government added.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump published a text message sent by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to the Republican, in which the head of the organisation said that everyone would “pay well” in defence investments.
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