D66 wants to stipulate in law that 2 percent of the gross national product goes to defense. This is what Member of Parliament Jan Paternotte says in Good Morning Netherlands on NPO 1. D66 supports a bill by SGP, VVD, CDA and Volt.
D66 did not want to commit to the NATO standard for years. “That was broad among many parties,” says Paternotte. His party has changed its mind and now even wants to enshrine the NATO standard in law. “We will participate in the SGP’s bill to invest at least 2 percent of our gross national product in defense. We will co-submit the proposal.”
The support of D66 may help the proposal gain a parliamentary majority. “That could certainly be the case. I think that would be good news,” says Paternotte, who advocates more cooperation in Europe. “My next step would be to convince everyone to also be in favor of the European armed forces, because then we will really get what it is worth from that 2 percent.”
“If every country continues to do its own thing, we will invest a lot of money in defense, but we will not get the strong defense we need,” warns the D66 MP. “We won’t get much out of the 2 percent if we don’t do it in a European way.”
4 percent
Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren recently warned that European NATO members may have to invest as much as 4 percent of GDP in defense if Donald Trump comes to power in the United States after the November elections. “That is very real,” Paternotte responds. “Ultimately, America spends more money on defense than all other NATO member states combined.”
But the first step is to anchor the NATO standard of 2 percent in law, Paternotte emphasizes. But “it’s not just about those 2 percent,” he says. “It’s about recording it for a long time, so that you really know: we can make plans for the next fifteen years, we can make a strategy and we can make in-depth investments.”
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This is also necessary to get the arms industry going, he says. “The industry needs that, otherwise you won’t get the arms industry you need to protect us.”
Donald Trump
Today Paternotte presents a manifesto to keep the Netherlands safe. “The bottom line is that we really need to wake up,” says the MP. He is very concerned about a possible presidency of Republican Trump. “We see that Trump has a really good chance of being elected.”
The MP continues: “His first term was not a party for Europe, with a trade war over steel and aluminum, but of course also with the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. What he is now threatening is even more serious. He says: I might withdraw America from NATO and withdraw troops from Europe. That directly affects our safety.”
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The elections in America are already in November. “We better start today,” says Paternotte. “If Trump comes to power, he can take measures that are dangerous for Europe every day. In any case, there is no point in waiting six months.”
Patchwork
Paternotte emphasizes that more money needs to go to Defense. “That must happen throughout Europe. So not only in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium, for example, where they are lagging behind.” Moreover, European NATO countries must be better coordinated with each other. “Europe has 178 different weapon systems, the US has 30. If we had to fight together, we would have many different systems that don’t fit together at all.”
He wants European countries to purchase and produce weapons together. “In Ukraine they sometimes go crazy about the weapons they get from Europe, with their own supply lines and training programs,” says Paternotte. “If we have to do it without America, we have to do it more together. Now it’s a patchwork.”
Also read:
Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren expresses concerns about ‘critical’ situation in Ukraine: ‘We really have to do more’
By: Peter Visser
