All of Italy's defence spending, here are the details

At the recent summit in The Hague, the 32 NATO countries reached an agreement to increase defence spending from 2 to 5 per cent of GDP. The text of the final declaration stipulates that the "allies will allocate at least 3.5 per cent of GDP annually, by 2035, to finance core defence requirements and to meet NATO capability goals". As far as Italy is concerned, in ten years it would rise from the current 45 billion (equal to about 2% of GDP), of which 35 billion in defence and 10 in security, to 145 billion (100 billion in defence and 45 in security).

At this point, the question is: where do we start? How much does Italy spend on defence? The final expenditure of the Ministry of Defence authorised by the 2025-2027 Budget Law (Law 207/2024) for 2025 is 31,298.4 million euros, on an accrual basis, and represents over 3 per cent (3.4%) of the final expenditure of the State budget. However, it must be remembered that State expenditure is financed directly with resources of the Ministry of Defence, but also with funds allocated to expenditure chapters in the budgets of other ministries. In particular, the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy is involved, especially in relation to the financing of weapons programmes, and the Ministry of the Economy, for the fund relating to international missions.

Another source to consult is the Multiannual Defence Planning Document for the three-year period 2024-2026. A part of this document is in fact dedicated to defence planning, with an indication of the programmes planned to be launched, those in operation and additional priority needs to be financed. The DPP recalls that the Budget Law for 2024 (Law 213/2023) has authorised for the Ministry of Defence's estimates final expenditure, on an accrual basis, of EUR 29,184.2 million in 2024, 28,875.5 for 2025 and 28,745.4 for 2026. With reference to the financial year 2024, the budget forecasts show, when compared to 2023, an increase in absolute value of about EUR 1,435.7 million in the three main expenditure areas of the ministry (personnel, operations and investment).