NATO wants Italy to hit spending target as soon as next year, minister says
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By Angelo Amante
ROME, Feb 16 (Reuters) – NATO wants Italy to hit a target of spending 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence as early as next year, the country’s defence minister said on Thursday, a day after holding talks with allies in Brussels.
At a summit in 2014, NATO leaders agreed to move towards spending at least 2% of GDP on defence within a decade, but last year the Italian national unity government of Mario Draghi deferred the plan to 2028.
“There is a previous commitment for 2028 but NATO is asking us to bring it forward to 2024. I will discuss this with the prime minister and the government,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told Reuters after a hearing at a lower house parliamentary committee.
“There is an Italian commitment to reach 2% made by previous administrations… and clearly commitments must be respected,” said Crosetto, a senior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party.
Several allies are pushing for higher military spending given the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Britain and Poland already above 2% according to NATO figures.
NATO estimates published last June said Italy was expected to reach a defence expenditure total of 1.54% of GDP in 2022, meaning it would need to invest an additional 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in total over the next two years to reach the higher target.
More than 62% of the budget went on personnel, the second highest ratio within the alliance, leaving proportionally less cash for military procurement, maintenance and infrastructure.
Crosetto and Meloni are strong backers of Ukraine, but Italy does not provide a large share of Kyiv’s military support. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Rome ranked 12th in the list of military donors, far behind Germany.
Earlier this month, Italy and France said they had finalised technical talks for the joint delivery of a SAMP/T-MAMBA air defence system to Ukraine in spring 2023.
Crosetto said the Italian rightist administration might intervene on military spending in the next budget, but any decision would have to abide by financial constraints.
“The timing will depend on financial possibilities,” he told Reuters.
