Luxembourg is set to host the European hub of a Canada-led defence bank seeking to mobilise up to £100 billion. Political backing is in place, but domestic treaty procedures and key financial commitments still lie ahead.
NATO's 32 leaders opened a two-day summit in Ankara on Tuesday, chaired by Mark Rutte and hosted by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, under pressure from Donald Trump to lift defence spending toward a new five-percent target. The gathering convened hours after Russian missiles and drones killed at least 16 people in Kyiv.
Luxembourg's Defence Minister Yuriko Backes presented a roadmap on 20 May 2026 raising military spending by 0.1 points of GNI annually to 2.3% (EUR 1,665 million) by 2029, an incremental first step toward NATO's 5%-by-2035 pledge. The national finance council puts the cumulative extra cost at EUR 13.4 billion, with annual spending set to nearly quadruple. Backes rejected an "arms race" framing.
On 6 January 2026, 35 countries signed the Paris Declaration committing to robust security guarantees for Ukraine, including UK and French deployments and US-led ceasefire monitoring.