NATO Chief ask Defence Ministers to Dig Deep

NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, is to ask the alliance’s defence ministers at a meeting on Wednesday to throw more cash into the pot for shared deterrence and defence activities.

“Spending more together would demonstrate the strength of our commitment to Article 5, our promise to defend each other,’’ Stoltenberg said this week.

The boost would support allied deployments in the Russian-facing eastern flank of the 30-member bloc, air policing, marine deployments and joint manoeuvres, according to the head of the alliance.

It would also help balance costs among the allies, he told reporters, a frequent bone of contention between the big-spending United States (U.S.) and other allies, notably Germany.

The proposal is part of a broader package of reform ideas Stoltenberg is to present to ministers for initial debate on Wednesday, the first gathering since the change of administrations in the U.S.

The thorny topic of burden-sharing is also on the agenda.

If they go down well with ministers, the reforms could be adopted by the NATO leaders at a summit this year, though a date has not yet been set.

On Thursday, discussions were to turn to NATO’s Iraq and Afghanistan missions.

The former is due to be beefed up, while the latter is awaiting an official decision on whether to withdraw international troops by the end of April as per an agreement with the Taliban.

The alliance seems poised to stay put in Afghanistan, risking confrontation with the radical Islamist group.