Rutte: Higher military budgets necessary to secure Europe

(Patria) - Higher military budgets of European countries and increased production in the military equipment industry are necessary to secure Europe, believes NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

- We will have to spend more to protect ourselves. But we also need to rapidly increase our defense production on both sides of the Atlantic. We have been producing too little for too long.

We need ammunition, ships, tanks, planes, but also satellites and drones - Rutte stated in an interview for the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

European countries want to increase defense spending and maintain support for Ukraine after US President Donald Trump froze US military aid to Kyiv and raised doubts about Washington's commitment to European allies.

The German parliament will discuss important changes to state borrowing rules to finance defense, along with a 500 billion euro infrastructure fund from March 13, so that these measures are adopted by parliament before the formation of a new convocation on March 25, sources say.

EU leaders met on Thursday to support joint defense loans for member states and allow defense spending outside the strict budget rules for other sectors.

Rutte said he met with many military equipment manufacturing company leaders and urged them to respond to increased demand.