00:00Mark Rutte is speaking Trump. I think, you know, he's speaking the language that President Trump definitely understands and he needs to get this across.
00:14I think it's very important that everybody is doing this 5% and agreeing to this.
00:20President Trump has been the one who has been calling for this for quite some time that everybody should do more for their own defense.
00:30And Europe is stepping up. We definitely have listened to President Trump and everybody is doing more.
00:37Are you concerned about the contrast between this NATO summit and the one last year in Ukraine, really?
00:42And the issue of the war there was front and center. This year, it's quite notable by its absence.
00:48Well, every NATO summit is different. I think when member states agree to spend more on defense, that also means that they have more means to help Ukraine.
01:00And when it comes to Europe, we have agreed that we will support Ukraine militarily and we will also put more pressure on Russia so that they would also want peace in order to end this war.
01:11So it is very clear for us.
01:13There's also the perspective really from the United States, which is saying that NATO security isn't interlinked with Ukrainian security, whereas, of course, from a European perspective, it's completely inextricable.
01:26The security of all the regions in the world is very much interlinked.
01:32If you look at North Korean soldiers being already, I mean, active in Ukraine, when you look at the support that Iran is giving to Russia,
01:42when you look at the sanctions circumvention that some countries are doing and, you know, you have different security theaters in the world.
01:51So clearly, this is all very much connected.
01:54So if we don't push back aggression in one place, then it just is a call to use aggression elsewhere.
02:02I mean, obviously, we have this momentous summit where all allies are going to agree to spend 5% of GDP on defense.
02:08But are you concerned maybe that they will agree to the 5% but that may not materialize?
02:12Well, Mark Rutte, I really commend his work on this, because last time when we had the pledge in 2014, it was for 2024, but there wasn't really a clear path how to get there.
02:26Now we have, you know, milestones on the way to check whether everybody's in the right trajectory.
02:33And when it comes to defense spending, it's also very much defined what goes into that.
02:38I think it is important that in these very turbulent times, we need to invest more in defense and we need to do it all collectively.
02:48And then Spain and Slovakia saying they won't be able to agree to this 5% target.
02:52What do you think that division looks like to Putin?
02:56Well, I don't see into Putin's mind, but looking back how he has been working, he understands strength.
03:06If we invest more into defense, we are stronger.
03:09So it doesn't provoke him.
03:12Weakness provokes him.
03:14If he thinks that he's stronger, he can take up this war, then he will take up war.
03:21But if he sees that we are strong, then he doesn't look our way, which is what we are doing.
03:27But to countries who are not committed to spending the 5% when everybody else is, what would you say to them?
03:32I have called to look at the map of Europe, which is, I mean, if you compare it to the whole world, the European continent is quite small.
03:42Whatever happens in one place has also an effect, you know, to the whole of Europe.
03:48And it is, you know, shouldering more responsibility.
03:52Every member state has different issues and also different public opinions.
03:56I understand that, but we are in this together.
