Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Saturday 28.6.2025

NATO meeting

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The topic of the week is the NATO summit, which took place this week in The Hague, Netherlands. There was a lot of talk about money at the meeting.

NATO summit

![Natoländernas ledare på familjefoto i The Hague.](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_4507,w_8050,x_0,y_503/ar_1.7777777777777777 ,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1750855218/39-1485836685bee13a657a)

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NATO meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: IMAGO/NL Beeld/ All Over Press

The defense alliance NATO has been in the news a lot because of the summit. NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a political and military alliance.

NATO has 32 countries from Europe and North America.

Finland joined NATO in April 2023. The reason was that Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022.

Trump demands more money from Europe

Trump and Rutte at the table, small USA and NATO flags on the table.

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US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Photo: AOP

Before the NATO summit in The Hague, it was known that countries needed to increase their defense spending. So far, the US has been the biggest contributor to NATO.

US President Donald Trump has said that Europe should pay much more to NATO than it does now.

The Hague meeting was intended to be short because President Trump can get nervous easily.

5-point statement

Three soldiers in Finnish Defence Forces uniforms and equipment during an exercise.

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Lance Corporals Jami Salo (left), Aaro Härkönen, Lenni Mattila (right). at the naval media day at the Coastal Brigade in Upinniemi. Photo: Benjamin Suomela / Yle

In The Hague, all 32 NATO member countries agreed on a joint statement.

Each NATO country defends other NATO countries if they are attacked. The clause is called Article 5.

Concern has been raised that President Trump has spoken about Article 5 in an unclear manner.

The statement says that Russia is a threat. That is why defense is being strengthened. Finland’s goal was to have the Russian threat recognized.

The defense budget will be increased to 5 percent of NATO countries’ income, i.e. gross domestic product. The increase will take place by 2035.

Trump has threatened that the US will not defend countries that pay too little.

In a statement, NATO countries say they support Ukraine.

NATO countries are developing defense industries and new technology together.

Finally, it was decided that the next summit would be held in Turkey.

Finland is already one of the top countries in NATO funding

![Finlands and NATO flaggor.](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_3375,w_6000,x_0,y_500/ar_1.777777777777777 7,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1669891021/39-10421866388837d94603)

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Photo: PX_MEDIA

For all NATO countries, 5 percent is a huge amount of money.

3.5 percent is spent on actual defense. 1.5 percent is all sorts of other things that support defense.

Finland already spends 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.

Repetition

The topic of the news week was the NATO meeting.

NATO countries will increase defense spending to 5 percent of the country’s income, i.e. gross domestic product.

Here was Uutisviikko in plain Finnish - see you tomorrow!