Weimar Plus summit in Rome in support of Kyiv. Rutte: “NATO will agree on 5 per cent”

Brussels – Strong support for Ukraine and increased defence spending within NATO. These were the main points addressed at the meeting of the Weimar Plus Group, chaired today in Rome by Antonio Tajani. Regarding the new 5 per cent target of the North Atlantic Alliance, the Forza Italia deputy prime minister assures Italy’s commitment but requests more flexibility. Meanwhile, the EU is pushing to adopt new sanctions against the Kremlin.

The European defence top brass met today (12 June) in Villa Madama, Rome, to discuss support for Kyiv and Euro-Atlantic security, including new NATO military spending commitments. At the Farnesina, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani welcomed counterparts from France, Germany, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine, along with EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and, for the first time, in the presence of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Focus on defence

On the security side, the central theme is undoubtedly the need to increase military spending in the Old Continent massively. In their joint declaration, the ministers acknowledged that the European allies must “assume greater responsibility within NATO” and called for “an ambitious strengthening of European defence capabilities, by flexibly and sustainably increasing national security and defence spending.”

At Villa Madama with the ministers of the Weimar+ countries for an important discussion on Euro-Atlantic security and support for #Ukraine.
We agreed to strengthen our commitment to a stronger Europe, capable of defending its citizens and contributing to peace and… pic.twitter.com/6IC639JRDc

– Antonio Tajani (@Antonio_Tajani) June 12, 2025

The reference is twofold. On the one hand, there is the colossal ReArm Europe plan proposed by the EU executive: up to 800 billion in potential national investments by the Twenty-Seven (stemming from the relaxation of Stability Pact rules) plus another 150 billion in joint procurement from the SAFE fund, to which also non-EU countries such as the UK and Ukraine will be able to participate.

On the other hand, there is the new five per cent target to be set by the Alliance leaders at the Summit in The Hague, scheduled for later this month. But the watchword, precisely, is flexibility. The host himself emphasised this: “Italy is in favour” of raising the bar, said the deputy prime minister, “but we need to plan it over at least 10 years.” The Bel Paese has only recently reached the target of 2 per cent set in 2014.

On the crucial issue of the timeline, Rutte provided backing, meeting Giorgia Meloni for a bilateral talks before the ministerial. “I have not communicated anything about a deadline” for translating the new target (consisting of 3.5 GDP points for military spending and a further 1.5 per cent in investments related in a broader sense to security) into practice, the NATO chief said, in an opening to allies with strained public accounts such as Italy.

However, there is no doubt that the former Dutch prime minister emphasised the need to “spend more” and do so massively, starting with the production of munitions and increasing air defence capabilities. Because, he argues, Russia could directly attack NATO territory “by 2029 or 2030 at the latest.” All agreed: for the German foreign minister Johann Wadephul, “defence capability should not be a theoretical debate, it is a bitter necessity.” At the same time, Kallas reiterated that “a stronger Europe also means a stronger NATO.”

Support for Kyiv (and sanctions on Moscow)

As for the Ukraine dossier, the participants reiterated their support for the aggrieved country, welcoming “the US-led peace efforts and recent talks” between the Kyiv and Moscow negotiating teams (the last in Istanbul earlier this month) but deploring Vladimir Putin‘s less than constructive approach.

“We are ready for peace, we want to end the war this year,” said Kyiv’s foreign minister, Andrij Sybiha. However, according to his Polish counterpart, Radoslaw Sikorski, the tsar is “making a mockery” of the openings granted by both Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump (whose mediation doesn’t seem to be leading anywhere so far).

In order to force the Kremlin’s tenant to sit at the negotiating table, the participants at today’s summit reiterated their “readiness to escalate pressure on Russia,” including by resorting to the imposition of new sanctions. This is already being discussed in Brussels, where the ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven are debating the 18th package presented by the Commission at the beginning of the week.

The new measures, which must be adopted unanimously by the chancelleries, are being vetoed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, officially due to concerns regarding Bratislava’s energy security. From Rome, Kallas said she was “quite optimistic about a final agreement,” while Berlaymont spokespersons continue to repeat that “the Commission is constantly discussing with Member States” how sanctions can “work in everyone’s interest.”