Italy plans to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP within a decade

Published Jul 24, 11:03 AM UTC

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Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that Italy will increase its defence spending to 5% of its GDP within a decade, up from the current level of just over 2%. The statement was made during a joint session of the foreign affairs and defence committees of the Italian parliament. Tajani confirmed Italy's commitment to the NATO agreement reached at the previous year's summit in The Hague, which set a target of 5% of GDP for defence spending by 2035. Under that plan, 3.5% would go to core defence and 1.5% to related objectives like critical infrastructure protection and civil defence. According to NATO estimates, Italian defence spending was 2.09% of GDP in 2025 and 2.10% in 2026. The announcement follows the recent NATO summit held on 7-8 July in Ankara.

Source report

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that Italy intends to reach the NATO target of defence spending at 5 per cent of GDP within ten years, while respecting budgetary constraints and the role of parliament.

Tajani made the statement during a meeting of the joint foreign affairs and defence committees of both houses of the Italian parliament. During the session, a report was presented on the recent NATO summit, held on 7–8 July in Ankara.

The Minister confirmed Italy’s commitment, undertaken by all Alliance member states during last year’s summit in The Hague. At that time, NATO members agreed that defence spending would reach 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, broken down as follows:

3.5 per cent allocated to core defence
1.5 per cent allocated to related objectives, such as the protection of critical infrastructure and civil defence

According to NATO estimates, Italian defence spending in 2025 amounted to 2.09 per cent of GDP, rising to 2.10 per cent of GDP in 2026.

By Patryk Jagnieża

Source

Defence24.comWestern

Original headline: Italy is increasing defence spending

Original language: EN

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Italy Announces Plan to Increase Defence Spending to 5% of GDP Within a Decade

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Antonio Tajani Italy NATO Ankara