Published On 7/7/2026
Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruca said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries agreed, during their summit held today, Tuesday, on the necessity of raising defense budgets and accelerating the pace of military production, stressing the importance of European countries proving their ability to defend themselves by relying on their own capabilities, in light of the complex global security challenges.
On the sidelines of the 36th NATO summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara, the Romanian Defense Minister explained that “it is not possible to talk about NATO without the United States of America,” but at the same time he stressed that the current message is clear and that Europe must increase its military production and improve its defenses with its own capabilities.
US President Donald Trump had attacked the European allies a few days before the summit, describing their defense spending as “ridiculous.” He wrote on his “Truth Social” platform last week: “It is ridiculous for the United States to continue on this unilateral path while the relationship is not mutual. They did not stand by our side when we needed them.”
Mirutsa revealed that discussions within the alliance resulted in a move towards signing memorandums of understanding to accelerate defense production operations, relying on technology, with a special focus on drone projects.
On the security level for his country, he explained that the NATO countries have taken measures to limit the penetration of Romanian airspace and the rest of the NATO countries by Ukrainian or Russian drones, stressing that this approach does not have a hostile nature, but rather comes for purely defensive purposes aimed at achieving “deterrence” and protecting the security of members.
The two-day NATO summit began today and focuses on strengthening European defense spending and capabilities and concluding huge arms purchase deals, in light of intense American pressure to achieve a greater balance in burden-sharing among NATO members.
The leaders of the 32 member states are scheduled to arrive in Ankara to participate in the summit being held at the Turkish presidential palace, in light of persistent European efforts to win the approval of US President Donald Trump, who is angry about the European position on the US-Israeli war on Iran.
This summit comes a year after NATO member states pledged to increase their defense and security budgets to 5% of their respective gross domestic product by 2035 under pressure from Trump.
