Dutch Parliament Says ‘Nyet’ To NATO Defense Spending Plan Amid Chaos Of Geert Wilders Pullout

NATO aims for its members to spend at least 3.5% of their GDP on defense, but those dreams of NATO expansion – at a moment the proxy war in Ukraine is becoming dangerously close to entering hot war between the West and nuclear-armed Russia – are dying.

Dutch parliament on Tuesday slapped down a proposal to increase defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), key to NATO’s capability targets, in a non-binding motion.

While it doesn’t have legal force at this point, this makes clear parliament’s opinion, unleashing deeper tensions among NATO allies, and as the Trump White House exerts pressure to rapidly raise collective defense.

This comes at an ultra-sensitive political moment, given that as we reported earlier Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders pulled his Party for Freedom (PVV) out of the coalition that governs the Netherlands.

This sets up the likelihood of new elections after the man dubbed the “Dutch Donald Trump”, withdrew the PVV, related to immigration policy failure. 

According to the latest developments, Prime Minister Dick Schoof has just announced that he would offer his resignation from the Netherlands’ ruling coalition while continuing in a caretaker government, setting the stage for a likely snap election:

“Wilders has plunged the Netherlands into another round of political chaos,” said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group.

“The Dutch parliament can try to find a new majority or else there will be early elections. But the immediate outlook is one of chaos and uncertainty.”

The country has been in turmoil since Rutte resigned in 2023 after his coalition failed to pass comprehensive immigration legislation.

Critically, the air war over Ukraine and Russia is heating up, also in the wake of Ukraine’s ‘Operation Spider’s Web’. Funding for air defenses, particularly among ‘eastern flank’ NATO members is seen as paramount, from Brussels’ perspective.

“NATO is asking European member states to expand ground-based air-defense capabilities fivefold as the alliance races to fill a key gap in response to the threat of Russian aggression, people familiar with the matter said,” Bloomberg reports separately on Teusday.

“The ramp-up will be discussed at a gathering of North Atlantic Treaty Organization defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday, the people said on condition of anonymity as deliberations take place,” the report underscores.

And who will magically step forward to fill this massive funding gap?

Dutch Lawmakers Oppose 3.5% NATO Spending Target (Dutch need to spend up to €19 Billion more to meet NATO target)

And just like that Europe’s defense budget dreams go up in flames.

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 3, 2025

Certainly, the United Sates under the Trump administration, which has called for the bar to be raised to a whopping 5% of GDP, won’t.

In the background is the fact that Western populations are ‘war weary’ and don’t want to see escalation of NATO force strength in Ukraine. Trump himself is facing a revolt among conservative pundits on the American domestic front, as some European leaders, particularly Hungary’s Orban, are warning of a protracted conflict in Eastern Europe if the West and warring parties don’t climb down the escalation ladder soon.