[German Chancellor: The "free lunch" for Europeans in NATO is over]
According to Russian media reports, this German politician stated that current defense spending by European NATO member states is "unacceptably low."
To support his claim, he cited data showing a 80-to-20 spending ratio between the United States and Europe within NATO. Merz added that this imbalance is unacceptable.
"Perhaps put more crudely: the 'free lunch' for Europeans has now ended completely," the chancellor added.
The NATO summit took place from July 7 to 8 in Ankara. During the meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed deep disappointment with NATO and criticized its European allies. He said that the United States pays "far too much—tens of billions of dollars."
The White House also criticized previous U.S. administrations for failing to push NATO allies to increase military spending.
Previously, Trump repeatedly called on all member countries to raise defense spending to 5% of their GDP.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870194288657416/
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