This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/ifurye on 2024-05-22 11:48:16+00:00.
UK says neutral countries should join NATO if they want protection
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
LONDON — Neutral countries which aren’t NATO members but enjoy its “umbrella of protection” should have to join the military alliance, Britain’s defense secretary said Wednesday.
In a speech in London, Grant Shapps stopped short of pointing directly at non-NATO European countries like Ireland, Malta, Austria and Switzerland which have long prized neutrality.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked debate in some neutral European capitals about whether to rethink longstanding policy and join the military alliance.
Shapps’ comments came as he urged existing NATO members to increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP.
The alliance’s current target is to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense — met by about two-thirds of NATO’s 32 members.
Britain recently made a promise to hit 2.5 percent by the end of the decade, and Shapps has vowed to press the issue at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July.
The original article contains 255 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 42%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!