Slovenia is ready to fulfil its NATO commitments and increase its defence spending to 2% of GDP by the end of the year, Defence Minister Valentin Hajdinjak stated ahead of a meeting with alliance counterparts in Brussels.
He said Slovenia has already prepared a framework programme to review how it can “gradually and in a balanced way increase defence spending in line with NATO methodology” ahead of the alliance summit in Ankara, Caliber.Az reports, citing Slovene media.
The government’s goal is to raise defence spending to 2% of GDP by the end of the year, amounting to around €300 million.
“I want to make it clear to our allies that Slovenia takes its obligations seriously and is ready to take its share of responsibility for collective defence,” the minister noted.
In May, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte criticised the previous Slovenian government for reporting defence spending figures that included items not classified as core defence expenditures under NATO definitions.
The decision to bring all NATO members’ defence spending to 2% of GDP within 10 years was adopted at the Wales Summit in 2014, while at the Hague Summit in June 2025 the alliance set a further target of 5% of GDP by 2035.
By Bakhtiyar Abbasov
