Today’s news / Danish PM: Aid to Ukraine Counts as Defense Spending
President Emmanuel Macron hosted Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) and a total of about 20 heads of state and government leaders for a conference on Ukraine on Monday evening. Photo: Yoan Valat/Ritzau Scanpix

Danish PM: Aid to Ukraine Counts as Defense Spending

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen maintains that military aid to Ukraine should count towards NATO’s two percent defense spending target. Last year, aid towards Ukraine represented over a quarter of the nation’s defense budget, using about 0.6 percent of the GDP. Despite criticism from NATO representatives and countries like Finland, Lithuania, and Estonia regarding this accounting method, Frederiksen insists that aiding Ukraine’s fight is inherently defending Denmark as well. Denmark’s overall defense spending stands at approximately 1.4 percent of GDP, consistent with pre-invasion levels. Frederiksen highlights a 143 billion kroner provision for future defense needs. Lecturer Peter Viggo Jakobsen criticizes this as ‘creative accounting’, claiming no other nation includes Ukraine aid in the two percent threshold.