Economy
Custom limousines of Türkiye’s EV maker Togg to transport NATO leaders
A custom-built limousine version of Türkiye’s first domestic electric car, Togg T10X SUV, will be transporting leaders during the NATO summit in the capital, Ankara this week.
Ten exclusively produced, extended-wheelbase T10Xs have been added to the protocol fleet for the crucial summit of the members of the 32-country military pact that will begin on Tuesday.
They draw attention with elongated bodies and lack of side doors and feature Türkiye’s red-and-white national colors, as well as specially designed versions decorated with turquoise tones and traditional motifs.
The limousines are expected to operate on short-distance routes within the summit venue at speeds of about 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour.
They are also expected to provide controlled transportation along designated protocol routes throughout the summit.
Togg is backed by a consortium of major groups, including BMC, Zorlu Holding, Anadolu Group and Turkcell, along with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB).
Mass production of the T10X commenced in 2022 before orders were launched in March 2023, with deliveries starting a month later.
Togg launched its T10F sedan model in Türkiye last year, when it also started sales in Germany to mark its official entry to the European market.
The company also plans to enter France and Italy in the coming period.
France’s rising borrowing costs are fueling concern among investors and economists that its public debt of 3.5 trillion euros ($4 trillion) could spiral higher just as political jockeying ahead of next year’s presidential election makes fiscal reform unlikely.
They cite the risk of a “snowball effect,” in which the average interest rate paid on government bonds exceeds economic growth, causing debt to rise relative to the size of the economy unless the government runs sustained primary budget surpluses.
“If nothing is done, the public debt could reach 203% of GDP by 2050. Strict budgetary discipline is therefore essential to stabilize public debt,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann told journalists in Paris last week.
Public debt topped 3.5 trillion euros in the first quarter, reaching 117.5% of GDP, according to official data. That is close to levels seen during the COVID-19 crisis and leaves France as the only eurozone country yet to reduce its debt burden from post-pandemic highs, the Cour des Comptes public audit office said.
France could in theory reverse the dynamic through stronger growth or primary budget surpluses. But with a fragile government that struggled to pass a 2026 budget through the deeply divided parliament, neither appears likely in the near term.
Credit rating firm Moody’s expects debt ratios to deteriorate further among Europe’s five biggest borrowers – Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
“The increase in interest payments relative to public debt will be greatest for France,” Moody’s Senior Vice President Sarah Carlson said at an economics conference in Aix-en-Provence last Thursday.
Keeping up with interest bill
Interest payments on the public debt reached 66 billion euros last year and are rapidly becoming the state’s biggest expense, likely to surpass the education and defense budgets.
The Cour des Comptes warned last week that the bill could approach 100 billion euros by 2029 as debt issued during years of ultra-low interest rates is refinanced at higher borrowing costs.
It has urged the government to detail how it will reduce the budget deficit from around 5% of GDP this year to the European Union’s 3% ceiling and eventually return to a primary surplus.
Without such a surplus, France risks having to borrow increasing amounts simply to cover interest payments as debt grows.
“If we aren’t able, we risk literally suffocating under the weight of interest,” said Carine Camby, a senior auditor at the Cour des Comptes.
Even then, reducing debt can take years. Italy, despite running primary surpluses for much of the past two decades, remains one of the most indebted advanced economies along with the United States and Japan.
Ahead of preparations to pass the 2027 budget in parliament this autumn, the premium investors demand to hold French rather than German bonds has returned to highs seen after last October’s suspension of a pension overhaul, overtaking the Italian-German spread.
Political constraints
The debt burden is becoming a political battleground ahead of next year’s presidential election, with leading centrist contenders Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal making fiscal discipline central to their campaigns.
A lawmaker from the far-right National Rally, Kevin Mauvieux, secured backing from the lower house’s finance committee on Thursday for a report sounding the alarm on the debt snowball effect.
“The longer we wait, the more painful the consequences will be,” he told lawmakers.
Finance Minister Roland Lescure responded by urging opposition parties, including the National Rally, to support the government’s 2027 budget when it comes before parliament in September.
Several minority governments have fallen trying to pass budgets since a snap parliamentary election in 2024 produced a hung parliament, keeping pressure on French bonds.
Economists expect bond-market volatility to remain elevated ahead of the election next year. Morgan Stanley recommended on Friday that clients reduce exposure to French debt, citing fiscal concerns.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called on Tuesday for a “transatlantic defense industrial revolution” and urged companies to take more risks with their investments.
“The hum of machinery must become a roar,” Rutte told the NATO Summit Defense Industry Forum in Ankara ahead of a gathering of the alliance’s leaders in the Turkish capital.
“Industry across all of the nations represented here must be ready to take more risk. The demand is there, and you know it.”
Rutte’s remarks came as allies started to reveal large-scale defense investment pledges at the industry forum, including an initiative to spend $40 billion on the alliance’s drone defense capabilities.
“NATO is rapidly expanding our ability to deploy and operate drones at scale. And at the same time, we are building robust counter-drone defenses to detect, identify, and neutralize drones,” said Rutte.
“Allies are investing over $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over the next 5 years,” he said, as well as planning to step up operational training for soldiers.
NATO’s ability to deal with hostile drones was put to the test lately as Russian drones repeatedly violated allies’ airspace. NATO occasionally intercepted drones with fighter jets, raising questions about the efficacy of the alliance’s approach.
Several allies are also to jointly buy up to 10 Saab GlobalEye aircraft to replace NATO’s fleet of 14 AWACS early warning radar surveillance planes that are about 50 years old.
The announcements are part of NATO’s push to significantly increase defense expenditure.
‘Bonfire of red tape’
Rutte urged allies to slash administrative hurdles to rapidly expanding the alliance’s defense capabilities.
“We need a bonfire of red tape in our procurement and in our cross-border regulation,” he said.
“Both government and industry must continue investing in production capacity. Governments must also create the conditions for industry to expand and cooperate,” he added.
In 2025, European allies and Canada reported an annual increase in their defense expenditure of 20%, or an extra $139 billion, Rutte said, but industrial capacities would have to grow rapidly to meet the growing demand.
NATO is also to release “for the first time a consolidated demand signal outlining our requirements,” Rutte said.
NATO allies aim to spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense and related expenses by 2035 in a bid to quickly boost defense capacity.
“We are moving in the right direction. The strategy is clear, but the match is far from over. And to win it, we need all team members to pull their weight,” Rutte said.
Türkiye stands ready to be one of the main forces behind the industrial transformation NATO needs, Haluk Görgün, head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), said Tuesday.
Görgün’s remarks came at the opening of the NATO Defense Industry Forum in Ankara ahead of a gathering of the alliance’s leaders in the Turkish capital.
The focus of the summit is a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO. The Trump administration has warned its allies that they must handle Europe’s security alone as the U.S. focuses on China and the Indo-Pacific region.
“The Turkish defense industry is ready to be one of the driving forces behind the industrial transformation that NATO requires,” Görgün said.
Serious upheavals, wars and security challenges across nearly every region of the world over the past three years have reshaped the global defense environment, he noted.
“What is certain is that we have very little time, that we must strengthen our industrial capacity, and that no single country can shoulder this burden alone,” Görgün added.
He said the forum was the “centerpiece” of this year’s summit, reflecting a growing understanding of the defense industry’s importance for the future of NATO allies.
He said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s decision to make defense industrial capacity a priority gave the forum special significance.
“Another factor that makes this forum truly unique is that it is being held in Türkiye,” he added, stressing the country’s unprecedented growth in the defense industry over recent years.
Görgün said Türkiye planned the forum in close cooperation with the NATO secretariat, adding that this year’s participant profile had reached “the highest level in terms of both content and quantity.”
Defense industry products
He also urged participants to view the capability demonstrations at the forum.
“I especially recommend that you do not miss the opportunity to get to know the Kızılelma up close,” referring to an unmanned combat fighter jet developed by Turkish defense firm Baykar.
Görgün told how NATO announced its Defense Production Action Plan at NATO’s 2023 Vilnius summit, agreed on the Industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge at the 2024 Washington summit and committed last year at The Hague to allocate 5% of its GDP to defense spending.
He said these steps showed the alliance’s growing consensus for industrial expansion.
“These goals will only become realistic if NATO members act in unison,” he said.
Görgün underlined that the Turkish defense industry offers highly mature solutions in key areas on NATO’s agenda, including armed unmanned aerial vehicles, deep strike, space technologies, air defense and countering drone threats.
“In fact, NATO forces are already successfully using our products in the field,” he said.
He pointed to Türkiye’s modern jet trainer Hürjet aircraft cooperation with Spain, electronic warfare and border security infrastructure partnership in Poland, and efforts to strengthen the land and naval inventories of Romania, Hungary and Estonia.
Görgün also cited work to enhance the trans-Atlantic resilience of the Bayraktar TB2 fleet deployed in Poland.
“The same UAVs gave Ukrainians psychological superiority on the battlefield” from the first days of the war in 2022, he said.
Türkiye has also provided continuous support through advanced air defense systems, munitions and armored vehicles, he added.
Görgün said Ankara wants to bring these capabilities to new initiatives under the NATO umbrella.
“We view such collaborations from a strategic perspective,” he said.
Türkiye and Canada have formally launched negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA), Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said Tuesday.
“The technical teams from both countries will undertake the necessary work to define the scope and ambition of the agreement and prepare for the first round of negotiations,” the office said in a statement.
The move follows an agreement last month by Canadian and Turkish trade ministers to begin exploratory discussions aimed at concluding a free trade deal.
The statement came shortly after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Carney for talks ahead of the NATO summit in the capital, Ankara.
Erdoğan and Carney discussed bilateral ties as well as regional and global developments, the Directorate of Communications said in a statement.
During the meeting, Erdoğan said Türkiye and Canada should intensify efforts to strengthen cooperation in the new era ahead, particularly in trade, security, the defense industry and energy, adding that making use of cooperation potential would benefit both countries.
The president also reiterated Ankara’s support for strengthening NATO’s European pillar but stressed that such efforts should not replace the “trans-Atlantic bond.”
Erdoğan also said that non-EU allies should be included in the European Union’s defense initiatives, said the statement.
This is the first visit by a Canadian premier to Türkiye in 11 years.
At the summit, Carney is expected to further strengthen Canada’s contributions to the defense alliance, forge new partnerships and build shared security, including for Ukraine.
Türkiye on Tuesday dismissed as “disinformation” Israel’s claim that a U.S. sale of F-35 fighter jets and components to Ankara would disrupt the regional balance of power.
Ahead of a NATO summit in Türkiye, the Foreign Ministry slammed the claim made Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The baseless allegations recently circulated by Israeli officials in a coordinated manner and with calculated timing are part of a disinformation campaign,” the ministry said.
“Netanyahu and his partners in crime deliberately distort any criticism directed at them and seek to divert attention through a systematic propaganda effort.”
Netanyahu had on Monday urged the United States not to sell the jets to NATO ally Türkiye, claiming it would “upset the power balance” in the region.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was due to receive his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, ahead of the summit starting Tuesday evening.
Earlier on Tuesday, reports said Trump is expected to endorse the potential sale of F-35 jets to Türkiye and tell Erdoğan he’s prepared to restore Ankara’s access to the multinational program building the warplane.
Last month, Trump promised to make Erdoğan “very happy” when asked about Türkiye looking to secure F110 jet engines and regain access to the F-35 program.
The move would be the biggest gesture yet from Trump to Erdoğan, whom he regularly praises and sees as a close ally. The two countries have enjoyed warmer ties since Trump returned to office last year.
Analysts say Türkiye wants to secure the new engines for use in its flagship Kaan stealth fighter project, as Ankara seeks to join the exclusive club of nations producing fifth-generation combat aircraft, which notably includes the United States, China and Russia.
In 2019, the U.S. removed Türkiye from the F-35 program, where Ankara was also a production partner, following its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.
Washington claimed the system would endanger the jets and is incompatible with NATO systems, while Ankara repeatedly said there is no conflict between the two and proposed a commission to study the issue.
Türkiye also said it fulfilled its obligations on the F-35s and that its suspension broke the rules. Ankara maintains that the jets would strengthen not only Türkiye but also NATO.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Israel’s pushback could not “conceal the Netanyahu government’s genocide in Gaza, its policies of occupation and annexation, and its destabilizing actions in the region.”
The ministry added Türkiye wanted to see peace, stability and prosperity come to the whole region and that “with this understanding, we once again call on Israel to pursue a constructive and peaceful policy.”
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to endorse the potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye and tell President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan he’s prepared to restore Ankara’s access to the multinational program building the warplane, reports said Tuesday.
The move would be the biggest gesture yet from Trump – who is traveling to Ankara to attend a NATO summit – to Erdoğan, whom he regularly praises and sees as a close ally. The two countries have enjoyed warmer ties since Trump returned to office last year.
U.S. in 2020 imposed sanctions and removed Türkiye from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program, where Ankara was also a production partner, following its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense system.
Washington claimed the system would endanger the jets and is inoperable with NATO systems, while Ankara repeatedly said there is no conflict between the two and proposed a commission to study the issue. Türkiye also said it fulfilled its obligations on the F-35s and that its suspension broke the rules.
Ankara maintains that the jets would strengthen not only Türkiye, but also NATO.
The New York Times first reported the possible F-35 decision. Reuters also said Trump is expected to throw his support behind the potential sale, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The NYT report, citing four senior administration officials, said the move would come weeks of behind-the-scenes efforts by national security officials to break the stalemate.
The officials said they expected Trump to at least signal his intention to move ahead with providing F-35s to Türkiye, though it remains unclear when that could happen, it said.
Details of how the administration would address congressional and legal restrictions remain unclear.
The newspaper noted that Trump’s plans could face opposition in Congress, which has previously restricted the sale of F-35s to Türkiye unless the administration determines that Ankara no longer possesses the S-400.
‘Make them very happy’
When Trump was asked late last month by reporters if he would have any “gifts” for Türkiye, he said: “I’m going to probably do something that will make them very happy.”
Speaking alongside Trump, Vice President JD Vance said a review was underway to see if Türkiye had complied with the U.S. laws so that it could receive the F-35 fighter jets.
“Pete and the entire team are reviewing this right now, because there are certain things that we have to certify have happened… in order to comply with American law,” he said, referring to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said last week that Erdoğan and Trump share a “strong political will” to remove U.S. sanctions imposed on Türkiye, though they declined to lay out a timetable.
In December, U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack said the warm ties between the two leaders helped the sides hold “the most fruitful conversations we have had on this topic in nearly a decade.”
The news comes just a few weeks after the Trump administration formally notified Congress of its intention to sell dozens of jet engines worth more than $700 million for Türkiye’s first indigenous combat jet, called Kaan.
Some lawmakers from the U.S. Congress have raised objections, but the administration chose to go ahead with the sale anyway.
France’s debt burden at risk of snowballing ahead of 2027 election
Turkish main opposition CHP descends into reshuffle chaos, resistance
BREAKING NEWS… Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson spoke to AHaber: Türkiye is a very important NATO member
France’s debt burden at risk of snowballing ahead of 2027 election
Turkish main opposition CHP descends into reshuffle chaos, resistance
BREAKING NEWS… Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson spoke to AHaber: Türkiye is a very important NATO member
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