Joint press conference

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(As delivered)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Well, Prime Minister, dear Robert, let me also first say a few words about Gaza, because I completely agree. This is a good day for peace and stability. As we know, President Trump has arrived in Israel to mark the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and also the release of the hostages. They have been released this morning, and I think we are all very glad that this happened. This is great news. We all want to see peace and stability in the Middle East, and therefore, of course, we also hope that this will help us in Europe, as you said, to bring also peace about after this terrible war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, which is still ongoing. Let's hope we can build on this momentum.

It is a pleasure to be here with you in Ljubljana. I also want to thank you for hosting the 71st annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. You were speaking there this morning. I had the honour to address the Assembly later and do some Q&As. I think it's about 300 parliamentarians in Ljubljana from all over NATO today, and even since Friday, I think they are here now for four or five days.

For over two decades now, Slovenia is a valued Ally. You are totally committed to our collective deterrence and defence. You are contributing to our Missions in Kosovo and Iraq, as well as to our Forward Land Forces in Latvia and in Slovakia. And just as Slovenia stands with NATO, Allies also stand with Slovenia. Hungarian and Italian jets safeguard your skies. And NATO Allies sent urgent aid to help save lives after the 2023 floods.

I want to thank you for continuing to support Ukraine now and for the long-term. And particularly about the announcement about, on the PURL initiative. Slovenia contributes also to the Czech-led ammunition initiative, which has helped deliver over 3 million rounds of large calibre ammunition to Ukraine, and you provide humanitarian assistance, including to Ukrainian refugees. Russia, as we speak, continues to wage its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine on all fronts. Russia's attacks are not limited to the defence industry and military facilities. Instead, Russia systematically targets critical infrastructure, civilian and residential spaces, while also carrying out malicious cyber and espionage operations against Allies. And recently, we have seen Russia's continued dangerous behaviour in the skies, from drones over Poland to jets violating Estonian airspace, and these reckless actions threaten our security and pose serious risks of escalation. Our quick, decisive and measured responses not only show we have the tools and the capabilities to defend every inch of Allied territory, but also the strength in unity working together to protect our 1 billion citizens.

Allied leaders agreed at our Summit in The Hague to invest even more in our defence, increase our defence industrial production and continue our support for Ukraine, and this means ramping up defence industrial production, but also the capabilities and the forces to keep our people safe, equipping our armed forces with what we need to face any threat and keeping our deterrence and defence as strong as possible. And I welcome Slovenia’s commitment to all these common goals and endeavours.

In The Hague, we also reaffirmed our support to Ukraine because Ukraine's security - this is what we at length discussed also over lunch, and we totally agreed on this - Ukraine security matters for our security. So, this is about our values, that you do not invade another country in the 21st century, but also about our own collective defence and security. You already mentioned PURL, which is basically making sure that essential military aid to Ukraine, through NATO is delivered to Ukraine. This has to do with lethal and non-lethal aid. I really want to thank you again for participating. And as we speak, already, $2 billion of urgently-needed equipment is flowing, in this case, from the US to Ukraine, and it is essential that we continue to support Ukraine through these initiatives and others in its fight against Russia today and deter any future aggression.

While Allies are working to help Ukraine reach a just and lasting peace, Russia will remain a destabilising force in Europe and in the world. So, we all need to step up. We all need to invest more and to spend more on our defence, and therefore to ensure our security. So again, thank you, dear Robert, for your leadership, your team's leadership, for Slovenia's important contributions to our Alliance, for hosting me here today. It feels - I feel at home here amongst friends. We've had a lot of discussion. I still have some meetings coming up with the President, and the President of Parliament, but it is really great to be here, and thank you again for your wonderful hospitality.

Interpreter

Thank you very much. And now it's time for questions. Please introduce yourselves and address the question to the speaker. Robert Petrovič from Slovenian Press Agency. I have a question for the Prime Minister, and I have a question regarding the PURL initiative. So, what will be the contribution of Slovenia? How much funding do we intend to give it?

Robert Petrovič, Slovenian Press Agency

[continues in English]. I'd like you to comment on Slovenia's plans to increase defence spending, mainly if it's in line with NATO recommendations or with its guidelines and what more, if anything, should be done here by Slovenia. Thank you.

Prime Minister of Slovenia Robert Golob

[translated by the interpreter in English] Okay, so regarding the PURL initiative, I cannot reveal the amount because it is classified, and I don't have the authority now to declassify it, but it is within the MOD budget for 2025, so it's not an additional expenditure - I would like to stress this - but it is focused solely on defence capability, air defence, surface-air defence, in order to protect the energy and civilian infrastructure. For quite some time, Slovenia has been sending to Ukraine exclusively defensive equipment. And this also goes for this package.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

To your second question, let me really commend the Prime Minister and the team here in Ljubljana in Slovenia, because you charted a credible path to our common goal, and that's extremely important to follow-up on the commitments we made in The Hague. And let me really say that I want to thank you for that, for that leadership, and let's work on this together, so thank you very much.