21:52The U.S. was spending so much more on defense than the Europeans and the Canadians.
21:57Now we are correcting that.
21:59We are equalizing.
22:01I think it is a man of strength, but also a man of peace.
22:05You've seen that basically now with Iran, the man of strength being able to command his B2 bombers to go into Iran to take out that nuclear capability,
22:15but also the man of peace who is then immediately following up with making sure that Israel and Iran will commit to a ceasefire.
22:22And I think this is exactly what you want the American president to do, provide that type of leadership.
22:28And so I find him very predictable.
22:31Next question, all the way in the back.
22:33No, I don't think so.
22:35DPA.
22:39Unscarled, the German press agency, DPA.
22:42Secretary General...
22:43We were speaking.
22:44There you are.
22:45I cannot see you.
22:49I can only answer the question if I see who it is.
22:53Can you stand up?
22:55Oh, you're really in the back.
22:56Sorry.
22:56Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:57Please.
22:59Secretary General, I would like to come back to Article 5.
23:03Did President Trump promise in the meeting that he would stand by the allies until the end of his term?
23:13And if so, did he promise it without any conditions?
23:18Can I ask you, and not you, you're a journalist, so you are totally, of course, free to ask all those questions,
23:24but through you to some politicians in Europe and Canada to stop worrying.
23:29The United States is totally committed to NATO.
23:33The United States is totally committed to Article 5.
23:35How many times do we want them to say this?
23:38And as I said before, we have now had half a year when we constantly ask the U.S.,
23:43are you with us, with NATO, with Article 5?
23:46So let's look for another country in NATO, one of the other 31, Iceland, the Netherlands, France, or Canada,
23:52for the next half year to answer that question.
23:56All right.
23:57Limited time, lots and lots of questions.
23:59The woman in the green jacket here in the third row.
24:03Kathy Newman, Channel 4 News.
24:04Hi.
24:05Hello.
24:06You described in the communique Russia as a long-term threat.
24:10Isn't Putin an immediate threat?
24:12Did you water that language down to get agreement?
24:14No.
24:16Of course, if you're a long-term threat, you're also a short-term threat.
24:19So he is a threat now, and he is a threat in long-term.
24:23All right.
24:24Same row, the woman in the white shirt with the glasses.
24:33Ida Harliganen from Ilta Senamat, Finland.
24:35Mr. Secretary-General, Russia has expanded its military infrastructure near Finland's eastern border.
24:42What is Russia aiming to achieve with this, and what is NATO's message on the matter?
24:48And second, if I may, is Spain now serious about the defense spending goal?
24:52Yes.
24:53On the last question, I believe so.
24:55As you know, there is disagreement or disagree that they think they can reach the capability
24:59targets by 2.1 percent.
25:01NATO is saying it has to be 3.5, like for all the other allies.
25:05All allies will report on how they are getting to the capability targets.
25:09So we will see, and in 2029, we will anyway have a review of all of this.
25:14On your first question, well, let's not be naive about Russia.
25:20Of course, they are fighting this totally unprovoked war against Ukraine.
25:26But at the same time, and this is what we have been hearing, open source from many senior
25:32military leaders in Europe, including the chief of defense in Germany, they are building
25:36up their armed forces and reconstituting their armed forces at such a pace that they could
25:42be ready in three, five, or seven years to attack NATO.
25:45And that is why today is so important and today is so transformational.
25:49Yes, to the question before, because we have to equalize this U.S. and end the debate which
25:54has now been running for 60, 70 years.
25:57But particularly also because we know that there is this Russia threat, short term, long
26:02term, whatever.
26:03But the Russia threat is there, and we have to make sure that we can defend ourselves.
26:07And that is why we are doing this.
26:08Okay, we just have time for a few more questions.
26:11NHK, so fifth row here.
26:15Oh, Satya from N.T.
26:17The public TV station of Japan, thank you.
26:20My question is about the IP4 countries, which were here in The Hague.
26:25So I know you've been mentioning that you won't lecture the whole world, but since you were
26:31able to make this historical decision today, do you think this would trigger other countries
26:37like the IP4 countries to think twice about their threats around them and their defense
26:43spendings?
26:44Well, we have been had to close cooperation.
26:45Yesterday, an excellent meeting with the Japanese foreign minister.
26:48We will have a meeting with the senior leaders from the Indo-Pacific 4 countries later today,
26:54and it will be another meeting also with President Zelensky, a European leader.
26:57So, but with the Indo-Pacific 4, we will also meet.
27:01And this is because we know that our two areas, so the New Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are
27:09getting more and more connected.
27:10Look at North Korea being so closely involved now in the war efforts and North Korean soldiers
27:17fighting on European soil against, on the Russian side, against Ukraine.
27:22Again, that is rather historic.
27:24So this cooperation is important, where it's very much focused on innovation, it's very much
27:29focused on procurement, on defense industrial production, making joint assessments of what
27:37is happening in the Pacific, what is happening in the New Atlantic, and how the two are more
27:41interconnected, and I must say, when I'm speaking to the leaders, and I was visiting Japan early
27:48April, having a long meeting with the prime minister, and I met him again last week in
27:51Calgary at the G7, but also the leaders of the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand,
27:57they all are very much aware that, of course, part of having a deterrence is that you spend
28:05enough on it.
28:05You see, in all these countries, debates ongoing on doing more where possible, but it is not
28:12up to me to advise them.
28:13Let me concentrate on the 32 and make sure that we do what we need to do, but I think
28:18that debate is taking place also in many countries outside NATO.
28:23Okay, I think we've just got time for a couple more questions.
28:26The center, fifth row, gentleman in the very center there.
28:29Yes, my name is Heike, from the Finnish newspaper, Helsinki in Sanomat.
28:36Did you exchange views on Vladimir Putin in their, Mr. Trump seems to be in rather friendly
28:42terms with him.
28:43It would be interesting to hear what you talked about him.
28:47I've not changed my views on Vladimir Putin.
28:49I don't trust the guy, and of course, I had a lot of dealings with him personally when we
28:54had a terrible situation with flight MH17, the Malaysian airline flight MH17.
28:58Putin being shot out of the air by Russia in July 2014, and Putin telling me that he
29:07was not present in the Donbass, and that he had no dealings in Ukraine, and this, that,
29:13and the other.
29:14And this was, these were all lies.
29:15We know that.
29:17Okay, for the sake of geographical diversity, all the way in the back, Telekaf.
29:22Pim Sadeh, the Telekaf.
29:24Miss Reta, I have two short questions for you, right here at the back.
29:27How do you think Vladimir Putin will look at this NATO summit in The Hague and the appointments
29:32being made between the eight NATO allies?
29:35The other question, completely different one, but how do you think, how big is the role of
29:39the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, the queen, and also Amalia in organizing this NATO summit
29:45and being, making it, making it into a success?
29:48A big role.
29:50Last night was, was really amazing.
29:53And, and, uh, I mean, we are both Dutch and we can be very fortunate to have this royal
29:58family.
29:59Uh, of course, they have that overview, which many politicians who are there for one or two
30:04terms can never compete with.
30:07Um, so we have a king here in the Netherlands who is now in that position for 12 years and
30:12you sense that.
30:12I mean, the breadth, uh, the bandwidth for which he is speaking, uh, including with the
30:17American president and other leaders is really impressive.
30:20And I've seen the same before with his mother, Queen Beatrix.
30:22So that is one of the huge advantages of being, of having a monarchy.
30:27Uh, and I would, uh, say, well, to, to your and my country, let's be happy and let's be
30:32glad and grateful that his family is willing to do that.
30:35On the other question, I mean, look what Putin achieved.
30:39Um, he wanted to divide the West and now Finland and Sweden have joined NATO.
30:45He wanted to divide the West and now we have committed to a 5% spending target.
30:50Uh, so he cannot be very happy and he should not be very happy all the way in the front
30:56on the left.
31:00Okay, not, never give the microphone away so that you can see me.
31:04Uh, there, Shane, which, uh, news paper from Bosnia-Herzegovina, thank you very much
31:10for this opportunity.
31:10So for the West Balkans, for the first time, long time, it hasn't been mentioned in the,
31:14in the communique.
31:15What does it mean for our region?
31:16You yourself were several times talking about the importance of the region for the alliance.
31:20Why can you tell us why it's not mentioned?
31:22Yeah, but again, this is not your traditional communique, which you would see in, in the
31:26UN or in NATO in the past where you would have 60 pages, 90 paragraphs, basically talking
31:33about the world from the birth of Jesus up to today and everything in between.
31:37I mean, that's dumb.
31:39Um, we try to focus.
31:40So we, we are still very much concerned.
31:42We, uh, K4 is there in Kosovo.
31:45U4 is there in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
31:47I was visiting the region, had extensive talks with the leadership in Bosnia, in Kosovo.
31:52I had a dinner in Brussels with the president of Serbia.
31:55So we are very much involved as NATO.
31:57The EU, of course, is very much involved.
31:59We closely coordinate with the Karakalas and Ursula von der Leyen on the European side.
32:05Um, but what we really want to do here is, is not to recall all the language, like the
32:10irreversible paths of Ukraine into NATO.
32:12So it's still there, nothing changed.
32:14Um, but really to focus on, on, on three core issues in five paragraphs.
32:19Uh, and one of the paragraphs is about the next meeting.
32:21So basically four paragraphs.
32:23Uh, and that is about, as you know, production, spending, and Ukraine.
32:28Okay, final question to the young reporters in the front.
32:31Yes.
32:32Um, we'll get a mic to you.
32:34Just a moment.
32:35Thank you very much for this opportunity, Secretary General.
32:43We are the youth correspondents.
32:44Absolutely.
32:46And you are here now for two days, and you have been marvelous.
32:49Yes, thank you.
32:51There's a lot happening in this world, and many children worry about it.
32:56Do you think we children can also, uh, fight for peace?
33:00Or should we trust that you could bring peace to the world?
33:05But I cannot personally bring peace to the world.
33:08But what we can do collectively is to make sure that we are so well prepared.
33:15We are so strong that nobody will ever attack us.
33:18So the best way to preserve your future, and that our children can live in a democratic, free, open society,
33:27where you can be who you want to be, think what you want, have free press,
33:31what you basically have in the West, and let's, let's be honest, it's fantastic,
33:36uh, is to make sure that we spend enough on our defense, particularly if we know that
33:40we have some, some adversaries who are really trying to get at us.
33:45So that's the best way to preserve your future.
33:47And that's what we try to do today, to make that commitment.
33:50Um, but you standing here is really touching, and we have seen each other now for two days,
33:54we know each other for some, uh, longer time.
33:56I really want to thank you both.
33:58And in you, all the free press sitting in this room, uh, for your fantastic work,
34:02and, uh, see you soon, in Brussels or elsewhere.
