As leaders meet in Vilnius for the 2023 NATO summit, the war in Ukraine will be high on the agenda. But the long-standing problem of defense spending, or lack thereof, among NATO members may not be too far off.

Many people are familiar with NATO Article V security. This is a provision of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949, which stipulates that an attack on one country is an attack on the whole. Few people are familiar with Article 3 of the Convention. It states that NATO members will at least “maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.” Only a handful of NATO member states can claim to be fulfilling their Article 3 commitments. Over the years, low defense spending across Europe has led to significant losses in NATO capabilities and embarrassing gaps in preparedness. Arguably, Article 5 will not do much as a deterrent against NATO adversaries without fulfilling its Article 3 commitments.

The debate over defense spending is nothing new. In 2006, the NATO Defense Minister agreed to spend his 2% of GDP on defense. In the years that followed, only a few members achieved this goal. Within months of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO leaders used the Wales summit to recommit to reaching the 2% target. But this time around, NATO leaders have chosen 2024, the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding, as the deadline to reach this spending target.

With only one year left, NATO defense spending remains pathetic. By 2022, only seven of the then 30 member states of the group met the 2% threshold: Greece, the United States, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Latvia. This is one less country than in 2021. The inability of so many member states to spend 2% of their GDP on defense is compounded by the fact that the definition NATO uses for defense spending is broad and generous. For example, retirement pensions for civilians in defense-related government positions can also be included in the tally. When it comes to creating 21st-century military power, civil servant pensions are almost unthinkable. Many countries have announced increases in defense spending in the wake of Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine last year. Still, only a handful of NATO members are expected to hit the 2% target by next year.

There is no easy answer to the defense spending crisis, but one new approach the alliance should take is to involve the finance minister or equivalent. In most European parliamentary democracies, the purse strings are in the hands of the finance minister. Unlike the US system of governance, where the legislative branch has authority to both authorize and spend public spending, this is not the case in most parts of Europe.

Also, with few exceptions, in most European parliamentary democracies the position of defense minister in the cabinet is low in terms of seniority and influence. The Finance Minister, on the other hand, is often the most influential and important member of government after the Prime Minister. This is in contrast to the US system. In the United States, the post of secretary of defense is constitutionally mandated to be above the cabinet, and is therefore an important and influential member of the government.

For this reason, the next NATO summit should include a special meeting of finance ministers to discuss defense spending. NATO Finance Ministers should meet regularly between Summits throughout the year, as Defense and Foreign Ministers already do. Introducing the Finance Minister to the world of NATO would help him understand why defense is so expensive and why the geopolitical risks are so high.

NATO, as an intergovernmental security alliance, is only as strong as its individual member states. This is why Article 3 is so important and why the 2 percent target is a reasonable target. Involving the Finance Minister in the NATO process is not a silver bullet for increasing defense spending, but it certainly helps. Ultimately, giving finance ministers more involvement in the NATO process could lead to improved domestic policy and increased defense spending.