U.S. to cut spending on NATO budget, Germany to pay more

Syllabus subtopic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

News: The U.S. is to cut its contribution to NATO’s operating budget, officials said on Thursday, with Germany increasing payments as the alliance tries to appease President Donald Trump ahead of a summit next week.

Prelims and Mains focus: about NATO, challenges and its achievements so far, impact of U.S move on world security

Background

Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticised European members for freeloading on the U.S., singling out Germany —the continent’s economic powerhouse — for lagging behind on an alliance commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.
While most of Mr. Trump’s anger has been focused on European national defence budgets, American officials have also grumbled about how much Washington contributes to NATO’s running costs.
Washington currently pays 22.1% of the NATO budget — which totalled $2.5 billion in 2019 — and Germany 14.8%, under a formula based on each country’s gross national income.

Changes made in the new agreement

Under the new formula, cost shares attributed to most European allies and Canada will go up, while the US share will come down.

Under the new agreement, the U.S. will cut its contribution to 16.35% of the total, Germany’s will rise to the same level and other allies will pay more.

About North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):

It is an intergovernmental military alliance.
Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
Headquarters — Brussels, Belgium.
Headquarters of Allied Command Operations — Mons, Belgium.

Significance: It constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.

Objectives:

Political – NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.

Military – NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis-management operations. These are carried out under the collective defence clause of NATO’s founding treaty – Article 5 of the Washington Treaty or under a United Nations mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.

Source: The Hindu

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