Slovakia Defends Its 2035 Defense Spending Timeline at NATO Ankara Summit

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini praised the NATO summit held in Ankara, Turkey, saying it confirmed unity among the alliance's members and that Slovakia faced no criticism for its plan to reach a five-percent GDP defense spending target by 2035. The summit was dominated by a push from U.S. President Donald Trump, who called on NATO member states to raise their defense budgets to five percent of gross domestic product as quickly as possible, saying most allies had agreed to the target. Slovakia, a NATO member since 2004, had previously committed to the ambitious spending goal but on a longer timeline than some allies may have preferred. Pellegrini's positive assessment suggests Bratislava successfully defended its phased approach without facing pressure from alliance partners. The five-percent target represents a significant escalation from the existing NATO benchmark of two percent of GDP, which many European members have only recently begun to meet following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Whether European allies can realistically meet the higher threshold remains a point of debate across the continent.