President Michael D Higgins’s recent comments about increased Nato military funding have been sharply criticised by a former president of Estonia.
Speaking at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin this week, Mr Higgins said calls from Nato’s secretary general to member states to increase funding for military uses, were “appalling”.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has repeatedly called on Nato members to increase military spending from current targets of about 2 per cent of each member’s GDP, to at least 3 per cent by 2030. “We will have to spend more ... It will be much more than the 2 per cent. I’m clear about that.” He later said: “It is time to shift to a wartime mindset.”
His comments came as US president elect Donald Trump called for Nato members to increase military spending to 5 per cent of GDP.
It was in this context that President Higgins said current global spending on defence of €2.38 trillion was already “shocking” and perpetuated “war as a state of mind”. Mr Higgins said increased military spending “may, we were told, cause pain in the present so as to achieve security in the future, and it may be – the secretary general of Nato Mr Rutte stated – even at the expense of investing in essentials in education, social protection and health”.
Ireland is not a member of Nato.
[ President criticises Nato’s ‘appalling’ call for increased military spendingOpens in new window ]
On Friday, former president of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves criticised President Higgins’s remarks, accusing the Irish of a privileged geographical location and being able to benefit from “implicit” Nato protection.
In a social media post, Mr Ilves said: “Do these people have any sense of self-awareness, their privileged geography or the appropriateness of even commenting as the beneficiary of implicit Nato security?”
Should President Higgins speak for Ireland on Nato?
On Saturday, President Higgins’s office declined to comment directly on Mr Ilves’s criticism. In a statement the office said: “The President’s remarks at the Young Scientist related to the application of science in society and contrasted record global spending on armaments of $2.4 trillion with the failure of countries to meet their commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including an increase of 200 million people affected by hunger across the world.”
Estonia declared its neutrality on the outbreak of second World War in 1939 but was invaded first by the Soviet Union in 1940, then Nazi Germany in 1941, and reoccupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1944. Following the 1988-1990 “Singing Revolution” against Soviet rule, the nation’s full independence was restored on August 20th, 1991. The country along with neighbours Lithuania and Latvia are now members of Nato and the European Union.
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