On the alliance’s decision to increase military spending to 5% of GDP.
On the alliance’s decision to increase military spending to 5% of GDP.
From Brussels / Belgium
On their recent summit of heads of state, NATO members have agreed on increasing each country’s defense spending to 5% of the GDP. This decision caused a lot of criticism and opposition in various European countries, leading to mass demonstrations in Madrid, Rome, and Brussels.
One of the main participants in the latter was the Workers’ Party of Belgium. Having increased its votes during the past 20 years constantly, the party received 9.9% in the elections for the House of Representatives. The party is considered one of the successful examples for socialist and even Marxist policies in Europe.
We spoke to Peter Mertens, the party’s General Secretary, in Brussels.
What is NATO preparing for globally?
They are waging a war on three fronts. They want the Europeans to wage their war, the US war, a proxy war in Ukraine. That’s one war, one front. The second front: they’re using their proxy Israel to wage a war against Iran in the Middle East, to set the Middle East in flames. And they are waging their own war, they are preparing their own war in Asia against China.
So, with these three wars now they want to let pay the Europeans 5%, and it means another war: A war on the working class in Europe to pay for the wars of the US, and we say no to NATO, no to the 5%, no to these three wars and yes to peace.
And they also, I heard, present this 5% that the Europeans are supposed to spend, as an example for other countries.
Can you explain that?
Yeah, so Trump said, okay, Europeans have to spend 5% of all their world buying arms in the US, of course. And then we heard that Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense of the US, he said to the Asians, “look, the Europeans are now spending 5%, they’re buying our weapons, and you have to spend also 5% so you Filipinos, you New Zealanders, you Japanese people, you have to spend 5% too, and you have to spend it in the United States”.
So, they are playing Europe against Asia, Asia against Europe for their own interests, and we are being fooled while we watch live. It’s only a war for NATO, only a war for the interests of the United States. That’s behind it all, and we have to refuse it all.
Do you see a difference in the positions of the EU and the United States in regard to the Ukraine conflict? Are the EU more warmongering than Trump, or is it a show?
I think it’s it a show. Parroting the same idea. So we have no European leaders. Europe is becoming much more under control of the United States these days. But in the working class in Europe, there is a resistance growing, a big resistance growing, also towards the European leadership, also against these non-sanctions towards Israel.
So, the European Union, they had 18 packages of sanctions against Russia and zero against Israel. And so, people becoming more and more angry, working-class people becoming more and more angry and saying these are not our leaders, they are parrots from Trump.
Thank you very much.