Melike Pala
26 March 2026•Update: 26 March 2026
BRUSSELS
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday released the alliance's 2025 Annual Report, highlighting a historic increase in defense spending by European allies and Canada and praising the role of the US administration in reaching these milestones.
Rutte described 2025 as an "eventful year," marked by a rapidly changing security environment.
He identified Russia as the "most significant and direct threat" to Euro-Atlantic security, citing airspace violations, sabotage, cyberattacks, political interference, and disinformation campaigns.
"The threat picture across 2025 made clear the need to do more. And throughout the year, NATO continued to come together to ensure that we are ready and able to respond to any threat, across all domains, both now and in the future," he said.
Regarding Ukraine, Rutte emphasized ongoing support from NATO and allied nations. "Essential equipment into Ukraine continues to flow, and that is important, because we have to do everything," he said.
The report shows significant progress on defense investment.
For the first time, all NATO allies met the 2% of GDP defense spending goal set in 2014, with Europe and Canada collectively increasing spending by 20% compared with 2024.
Rutte noted a shift in mindset among European allies: "For too long, European Allies and Canada were over-reliant on US military might. We did not take enough responsibility for our own security. But there has been a real shift in mindset."
He highlighted the Trump administration's contribution.
"I don't believe that without the present American administration, the whole of NATO would have been reaching the 2% at the end of 2025. Taking some big economies like Spain and Italy and Belgium and Canada, are far from the 2% mark. They all got to the 2% and this is bringing billions and billions of euros, dollars to spend on defense," Rutte said.
On Iran, Rutte reaffirmed NATO's long-standing position against the country acquiring nuclear weapons, highlighted the threat posed by Iran’s missile program, and supported US efforts to degrade these capabilities.
"The US was not able to consult with allies because they wanted to keep the campaign secret. For good reasons to make sure that nobody knew what happened on that Saturday morning.
There's always a risk, if you inform too many people, that things might leak. But that also had the disadvantage that it takes time for the Europeans to get organized," he said.
He also commended European leadership, particularly the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands, for coordinating international efforts to keep sea lanes open.
