Defence: cuts totalling seven billion – projects at risk

 One issue that will involve the Ministry of Defence, and which will see Crosetto engaged in difficult negotiations with his colleagues in the Government – starting with the Minister for the Economy and Finance, Giorgetti – is that concerning the increase in staffing levels. ‘The issue of staffing levels has not been abandoned, even though it is not included in this bill,’ explained Crosetto during the hearing before the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on the bill to strengthen and adapt national defence capabilities, which took place on Thursday 1 October. “It was decided to distinguish the technical provisions, which form the basis of this measure, from those measures that instead involve a structural change to personnel numbers and which therefore require multi-year funding and can only be implemented after the Budget Bill. So we will have two bills to simplify the whole process.” “When I spoke in the past about the possibility of increasing the Reserve component by up to 40,000 personnel,” added the Defence Minister, “I explained that this measure presents multi-year funding challenges that must be addressed through the Budget Act. This is the crux of the matter: the public finance framework requires us to distinguish between measures that can proceed immediately and those that require additional structural resources. Even the plan to increase defence spending by 2026 has had to contend with the constraints associated with the European excessive deficit procedure. Requirements relating to staffing levels, reserves, personnel, specialised roles, infrastructure and accommodation therefore remain part of the overall plan, but will have to be addressed by Parliament at a later stage, in parallel with this legislative measure.”

As regards the size of the Italian Armed Forces’ Cyber Corps, the Defence Minister clarified on the same occasion that ‘it is defined within the scope of the resources we have today’ and expects that ‘by 2026 there may be a maximum of 1,200 out of the 160,000’ total military personnel indicated as the Armed Forces’ current target. In the future, “we may then increase it,” he continued, referring to those specialising in cyber security, “but at present it is defined within the limits of the resources we currently have”.

Another unknown factor concerns the strengthening of Strade Sicure. On Thursday, the Lega secured the first green light for its resolution – which had been on hold since April – on an issue that had caused rifts within the ruling coalition ever since Crosetto highlighted the need last November to ‘increase police numbers to allow the military to return to their original duties’. Until a few weeks ago, the issue had caused tension, with the League pressing to increase the contingent whilst Forza Italia and FdI were more cautious; then the Defence Committee in the Chamber of Deputies chose to break the deadlock and give the go-ahead to the resolution, which was voted through by the entire majority. The measure aims to strengthen the operation – which, since 2008, has deployed the Armed Forces for preventive and security duties – by increasing the number of military personnel deployed across the country from around 6,800 to 10,000, an increase of 3,200 personnel, all of whom will be assigned to security duties in towns, railway stations and sensitive locations. Furthermore, the plan also provides for the extension of military presence to the 61 provincial capitals currently without such a presence, and the recruitment of new Carabinieri. Beyond the political will to move in that direction, the shortage of resources raises a number of uncertainties.

 Meanwhile, according to the account given by the Minister for Public Administration, Paolo Zangrillo, the Council of Ministers has given the go-ahead to two proposed contracts covering the period 2025–2027. “I am referring to the local government sector and the security and defence sector,” explained Zangrillo.

In the background, there is another strand of the story, namely that of European funds. Crosetto himself clarified that the funds Italia has requested from the EU in the form of loans under the SAFE programme, totalling 8.9 billion, ‘have been confirmed’ and ‘are moving forward’. ‘They have been approved; we have informed the EU. It’s a technical matter, in short,’ he added. The minister did not comment on the timeframe required to finalise the loan agreement and for the release of the first tranche, which would amount to 15 per cent of the total.