(Adnkronos) – Italy’s government is set to announce that it will hit Nato’s target of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said ahead of an informal meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The Nato summit today and tomorrow in Antalya, Turkey will serve to reaffirm the unbreakable transatlantic bond, with Italy set to play a leading role in its commitment to the unity of the West,” Tajani told Affaritaliani.it
“It is clear that Europe will have to do more to guarantee its security and Italy is ready to announce the achievement of the 2% target,” said Tajani.
Italy is aware that Nato will ask for further increases and it will do everything possible “to strengthen security guarantees for our citizens in the coming years,” Tajani continued.
US President Donald Trump is pushing NATO allies to boost military spending to up to 5% of GDP, and Italy is under pressure from the US to boost its outlay, which until now has been among the lowest of the military alliance.
Italy’s projected defence budget for 2024 was 1.49% of GDP, according to Nato figures, but economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told lawmakers last month that Italy will meet Nato’s 2% target through a series of accounting changes.
Italy wants to tweak its accounting criteria to align them with Nato rules and list previous excluded items as defence spending, such as money spent on some civilian technologies and retired soldiers’ pensions, Giorgetti said.
