Italy to Increase Defence Budget in Line with NATO Commitment

Moscow (ANTARA) - Italy will progressively increase its defence and security spending until it reaches 2.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028, according to Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto.

“Next year (2027) we will reach 2.3 per cent, and the year after that 2.6 per cent. We are in a position that allows us to meet this commitment gradually,” Crosetto said in an interview with the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera published on Saturday.

According to Crosetto, Italy’s current defence spending stands at 2.01 per cent of GDP. When combined with expenditure on the security sector, the figure reaches 2.8 per cent of GDP.

He added that Italy has committed to increasing its defence spending for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to five per cent of GDP by 2035, with an interim evaluation scheduled for 2030.

Crosetto also said that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had informed allied nations that Italy contributes the largest personnel contingent across 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, or around US$21.7 billion, for the defence and security sector in the 2027–2028 period.

Italian media estimate that the country’s defence spending will rise by approximately €6.5 billion in 2027, followed by a further increase of around €13 billion in 2028.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that the increase in NATO’s defence budgets is driving global militarisation and an arms race.

According to Putin, this move is being carried out by using claims about a threat from Russia, which he said Western elites are exploiting to justify increased military spending, burden taxpayers and conceal the failures of their economic policies.