Statement of the WFTU on NATO Summit 2025

The International Trade Union Movement strongly condemns the new decision to increase the military spending of NATO members to unprecedented levels.  More specifically, the NATO summit that concluded on June 25^th in Hague, resulted in the commitment of the NATO members to spend 5% of GDP on defence, which is more than double the current target of 2%.

It is announced, among others, that the countries are committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on core defence spending to buy military hardware and maintain troops, and another 1.5% on defence-related investments.

The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant voice of 105 million workers, unequivocally condemns the new provocative soaring of military expenditures, the increase of the NATO budget, and their plans, which are deepening the confrontation and increasing the risk for a generalized imperialist conflict with disastrous consequences.

We demand full respect for the sovereignty, independence, and right of every people to choose their own path, present and future. We oppose the exclusions, discriminations, embargoes, and sanctions orchestrated by the USA, EU, and their allies against a range of countries, resulting in a direct and detrimental impact on the everyday lives of ordinary people. Low-income households, wage workers, poor farmers, and the broader vulnerable parts of society are disproportionately affected.

It is clear that both the spending of the war economy and the implications of the economic war negatively impact the standard of living of the popular strata are already burdened by the consequences of economic hardship, including soaring prices, rampant inflation, and the enduring effects of long-standing austerity measures, while the ordinary people pay with their lives for the wars conducted for the increase of multinationals’ profitability.

The international class-oriented trade union movement reiterates its firm demand for the immediate dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions, the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, and respect for the independence and sovereignty of all states.

The WFTU calls upon its affiliated and friends to intensify their struggles, initiatives, demonstrations, and strikes against the imperialists’ plans and wars.  We demand the end of all existing military conflicts, the end of the genocide in Palestine, and we strengthen the struggle for lasting peace, for a world free of imperialist interventions and man-by-man exploitation.