Italy will this year meet the NATO target of allocating two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for defense, said Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti during a parliamentary hearing on Thursday.
According to NATO criteria, Italy’s planned defense budget for 2024 amounted to 1.49 percent of GDP, which is one of the lowest levels among the members of the military alliance, and Italy is under pressure from the United States (U.S.) to increase its allocations.
“We are fully aware of the need to increase these expenditures in the coming years,“ Giorgetti said, addressing members of parliament on Italy’s multi-year budget framework.
On paper, reaching the two percent target would require about 11 billion euros, but Italy is trying to adjust accounting criteria in order to include in defense spending items that were previously excluded.
This includes funds spent on certain civilian technologies, as well as pensions paid to retired soldiers.
The European Commission has proposed allowing European Union (EU) member states to increase defense spending by 1.5 percent of GDP annually over four years, without triggering disciplinary measures that are otherwise applied when a national deficit exceeds 3 percent of GDP.
