Wednesday June 25, 2025 | THE NETHERLANDS [Reporting from VICTORIA, BC]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today in The Hague, The Netherlands, members of the North Atlantic Alliance (aka NATO) issued a joint statement in the form of a declaration called The Hague Summit Declaration.
The declaration first states a reaffirmation of commitment to the collective defence component of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and goes on to declare a commitment to spending much more on defence along with enhancing industrial capacity.
NATO has 32 member states, traditionally with shared political and military interests.
Commitments will be renewed in 2029; that incidentally aligns with a new period of US Administration (after the 2028 US presidential election).
“The deterrence element of NATO has just gone up substantially and we would really feel it if it went in the other direction,” Carney told media in a press conference at The Hague today.
Canada’s commitment:
Canada has already started working toward defence enhancements including a boost of defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035. This is part of an overall 5% commitment of which 1.5% is industrial capacity including infrastructure like ports and airports as well as telecommunications, critical mineral mining capacity, modern technologies (such as drones, AI and quantum), and manufacturing strength and capacity.
Carney says Canada can no longer depend on “our geography” as a passive way to provide defence. Not only have Arctic waters continued to open up due to a warming climate but threats include long-range missiles, the work of drones, and also cyber-attacks.
“First and foremost we are protecting Canadians,” said Carney during his press conference today.
Statement in full:
Here is the joint statement in full:
The Hague Summit Declaration:
- We, the Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Alliance, have gathered in The Hague to reaffirm our commitment to NATO, the strongest Alliance in history, and to the transatlantic bond. We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty – that an attack on one is an attack on all. We remain united and steadfast in our resolve to protect our one billion citizens, defend the Alliance, and safeguard our freedom and democracy.
- United in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism, Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations, in accordance with Article 3 of the Washington Treaty. Our investments will ensure we have the forces, capabilities, resources, infrastructure, warfighting readiness, and resilience needed to deter and defend in line with our three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.
- Allies agree that this 5% commitment will comprise two essential categories of defence investment. Allies will allocate at least 3.5% of GDP annually based on the agreed definition of NATO defence expenditure by 2035 to resource core defence requirements, and to meet the NATO Capability Targets. Allies agree to submit annual plans showing a credible, incremental path to reach this goal. And Allies will account for up to 1.5% of GDP annually to inter alia protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base. The trajectory and balance of spending under this plan will be reviewed in 2029, in light of the strategic environment and updated Capability Targets. Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, and, to this end, will include direct contributions towards Ukraine’s defence and its defence industry when calculating Allies’ defence spending.
- We reaffirm our shared commitment to rapidly expand transatlantic defence industrial cooperation and to harness emerging technology and the spirit of innovation to advance our collective security. We will work to eliminate defence trade barriers among Allies and will leverage our partnerships to promote defence industrial cooperation.
- We express our appreciation for the generous hospitality extended to us by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We look forward to our next meeting in Türkiye in 2026 followed by a meeting in Albania.
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