(Adnkronos) – Italy will not boost its defence spending by using European Union ‘cohesion’ funds designed to equalise living standards across Europe as the EU Commission proposed this week under an 800 billion euro plan to rearm the continent.
“We we are in favour of the framework designed by Ursula von der Leyen to guarantee the security of Europe,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday.
Tajani referred to a plan unveiled by the EU Commission president on Tuesday to borrow up to 150 billion euros to lend to EU governments as part of a package of proposals which von der Leyen said could mobilise up to 800 billion euros for Europe’s defence.
“We will not use cohesion funds though, because they must be allocated elsewhere. This is not a worry, but right now we need to address the overall picture and not go into details,” Tajani said.
Von der Leyen announced the rearmament plan after US president Donald Trump on Monday halted military aid to Ukraine and amid fears Europe can no longer count on US protection for its security.
“We have always been in favour of European defence, it was the great dream of (Italian statesman Alcide) De Gasperi and then of (former Italian premier Silvio) Berlusconi, so if this dream comes true now, it can only be a positive,” Tajani underlined.
“We certainly have to reach 2% of our GDP in defence spending. We have to work to guarantee our security,” Tajani stated.
The European Commission proposals and Trump’s stop to military aid to Ukraine highlight growing differences between Europe’s leaders and Washington over the continent’s security and how to handle Russia and its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Von der Leyen said on Tuesday that if EU countries boosted their defence spending by an average 1.5% of GDP, this could create ‘fiscal space’ of nearly 650 billion euros over four years.
EU members spent 326 billion euros on defence last year – about 1.9% of GDP, according to the EU’s European Defence Agency. European leaders have declared spending should rise much further.
Currently 24 out of 32 Nato members spend at least 2% of GDP on defence but Trump wants the figure increased to 5%.
Italy currently spends 1.57% of GDP on defence and premier Giorgia Meloni, a close Trump ally, has floated plans to reach Nato’s 2% target by 2027.
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said the new spending target decided at June’s summit in The Hague would likely be “north of 3%” .
