Neutral countries that do not belong to NATO but benefit from its umbrella of protection should join the military alliance, POLITICO reports.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, speaking in London on Wednesday, did not directly point to European non-NATO countries such as Ireland, Malta, Austria and Switzerland, which have long valued neutrality. But he did make it clear that Britain would lobby for new countries to join the bloc. He said:
“I will make the case for NATO to bring all those who benefit from the alliance’s umbrella of protection into the organisation. Some neutral European countries effectively benefit from NATO coverage, they enjoy the benefits of freedom and liberty, and yet fail to sign up to the Continent’s collective deterrence.”
Shapps also added:
“Yet when the wolf is at the back door of European security there should be no place for neutrality.”
The outbreak of military conflict in Ukraine in 2022 has sparked a debate in some neutral European capitals about whether to revise a long-standing policy and join a military alliance. Finland and Sweden have joined NATO in the past two years.
Schapps’ comments came as he called on existing NATO members to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP. The alliance’s current target of spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence is met by about two-thirds of NATO’s 32 members.
Britain recently pledged to reach 2.5 per cent by the end of the decade, and Shapps promised to raise the issue at the NATO summit marking the alliance’s 75th anniversary in Washington in July.
