Security on hold: NATO raises threshold to 5 percent of GDP, BiH remains on the margins!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

At the NATO summit in The Hague, Alliance members adopted a significant and ambitious decision that by 2035, each member state should allocate at least 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) for defense.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, which aspires to membership in this alliance, can currently only dream of this scenario. It should be borne in mind that BiH still does not have a budget for the current year, and we are on temporary financing.

It was also concluded in the Pentagon, where the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zukan Helez visited in April, that the defense budget should be increased.

However, everything ended with a statement saying that according to the constitution, competent authorities should increase defense spending.

The new NATO measure comes in response to increasingly complex global security threats, from Russia's aggressive policy and instability in the Middle East to growing cyber challenges.

While NATO is setting new security standards, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains significantly out of sync. As a country that formally strives for membership in the Alliance, BiH currently allocates only about 0.85% of its GDP for defense needs, which is not only far below the new target of 5% but also below previous NATO guidelines that required a minimum of 2%.

BiH's defense budget is approximately 350 million convertible marks, which is a symbolic amount compared to NATO members that are already investing billions in modernizing and ensuring the interoperability of their forces.

Even more serious is the fact that in BiH, there is a political struggle year after year over even the minimum state military structure. The Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH are often subject to political obstruction, primarily from the entity of Republika Srpska, which openly opposes NATO membership and advocates for neutrality.

In such a context, talking about increasing military spending often causes more fear than strategic thinking.

And while other countries in the region are already actively adapting to NATO standards, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains caught in its own political and financial contradictions.

NATO has already clearly stated that membership means not only political will but also concrete reform and financial steps. If BiH wants to maintain serious aspirations towards the Alliance, the issue of the military budget can no longer be swept under the rug.

At a time when Europe is rearming, and security threats are no longer theory but everyday occurrences, remaining on the margins of defense investment for BiH represents not only a missed opportunity but also a serious risk.