Italy to Increase Defence Budget in Line with NATO Commitment

Italy will gradually increase its defence and security spending to 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has said. “Next year (2027), we will reach 2.3 percent, and a year later 2.6 percent. We are in a position to meet the commitment gradually,” Crosetto said in an interview with daily Corriere della Sera published on Saturday. According to Crosetto, Italy’s current defence spending stands at 2.01 percent of GDP. When combined with security sector expenditure, the figure reaches 2.8 percent of GDP. He added that Italy has committed to increasing defence spending for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to five percent of GDP by 2035, with an interim review scheduled for 2030. Crosetto also said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has informed allied nations that Italy provides the largest personnel contribution to various NATO missions, surpassing the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Previously, in an interview with Fatto Quotidiano, Crosetto revealed that the government’s three-year budget plan includes an additional 19 billion euros, or approximately 21.7 billion US dollars, for the defence and security sector in the 2027–2028 period. Italian media estimate the country’s defence spending will increase by around 6.5 billion euros in 2027, followed by a further increase of approximately 13 billion euros in 2028. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that the increase in NATO defence budgets is driving global militarisation and an arms race. According to Putin, the move is being carried out using claims of a threat from Russia, which he says are exploited by Western elites to justify increased military spending, burden taxpayers, and cover up the failures of their economic policies.