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Tajani: 5% of GDP to Defence gradual and compatible with budgetary constraints

For Defence Minister Crosetto in the Hague mediations, Italy 'played a decisive role. We promoted and obtained a realistic, gradual and flexible approach, oriented towards concrete objectives'.

3 July 2025

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Swedish Air Force Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets fly alongside an aircraft simulating aerial interceptions, during a media day illustrating how NATO Air Policing safeguards the Allies' airspace in the northern and northeastern region of the Alliance, July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo/File Photo

3' min read

"The achievement of the target of 5% of defence spending will be gradual and compatible with budgetary constraints, no euro will be subtracted from health and education or from the cohesion funds". This was stated by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking at a hearing in the joint Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Senate.

"Flexibility is foreseen not only in the time but also in the manner, there is no timing in spending: we have asked for a review in 2029 to take stock and correct the course if necessary," he concluded.

"Atlanticism and Europeanism cornerstones of government"

"Atlanticism and Europeanism are the two cornerstones of this government's foreign policy: NATO is and will remain the foundation of our common security," the foreign minister reiterated in the hearing. "But today it is clear that we can no longer limit ourselves to being protected by the United States: Europe must make a qualitative leap and become the European pillar in NATO."

"We do not rule out new sanctions on Russia'

"In order to maintain the pressure on Russia, we cannot exclude the use of new sanctions," according to Antonio Tajani, who reiterated Nato's support for Ukraine, stressing that "the massive and indiscriminate Russian attacks show the urgency of a ceasefire". The government 'supports the US administration's commitment to a negotiated solution, but Putin must show that he wants dialogue and currently the facts tell us that this will is not there'. "As far as we are concerned, military assistance to Ukraine must go hand in hand with civilian assistance and we are working towards the reconstruction conference to be held in Rome on 10 and 11 July."

Crosetto: Italy at Nato mediated and obtained flexibility

In the NATO mediations, Italy 'played a decisive role. We promoted and obtained a realistic, gradual and flexible approach, oriented towards concrete objectives. It is an ambitious but not rigid path, over a ten-year horizon'. These were the words of Defence Minister Guido Crosetto during his hearing before the joint Foreign and Defence Committees of the House and Senate on the outcomes of the NATO summit in The Hague. 'Security has a cost, credibility is not proclaimed but is won through concrete actions and not declarations of principle. For Italy, it is articulated on two fronts: the strengthening of deterrence capacity and the construction of a cohesive and interoperable NATO pillar".

"Italy supported the need to freely modulate the annual increases towards 3.5 without mandatory minimum thresholds," he added. "We reaffirmed the commitment to collective defence enshrined in Article 5 of the Treaty, as well as the principle of all-round deterrence and defence. We also called for the security of the Alliance's southern flank, which should not be treated as a regional problem'. The new capability goals for Crosetto 'are concrete and measurable. They are not theoretical goals, without which NATO could not activate its defence scenarios. This entails greater financial responsibility. Hence the progressive increase in expenditure over 10 years. These figures are not arbitrary, but the result of an overall assessment of risks and objectives. There are three requirements: a 30% increase in capability targets compared to what NATO estimated 4 years ago to ensure collective defence on both the eastern and southern fronts, deterrence against an increasingly assertive Russia, and the need to compensate for the partial disengagement of US forces'.

"Northern Allies fear Russia, this influences NATO"

"According to the considerations of our European allies, within five years Russia could acquire the military capacity to threaten Alliance territory. It struck me that Sweden, among its many investments, has put a cemetery under construction that can accommodate five per cent of its population'. Minister Crosetto punctuates his thoughts. "I do not have the vision of the Eastern and Northern countries, but they have this vision and this has influenced the NATO discussion. We brought a different point of view that also concerned the Southern and Indo-Pacific front, that looked with concern at the Eastern front but not with the idea of an impossible war to be had in the coming years. But this is the climate in NATO, and not from nations that have always been hostile to Russia, but from a non-aligned nation outside NATO'.

Nicola BaroneRedattore
- @baronick
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Luogo: Roma
Lingue parlate: Inglese
Argomenti: Diplomazia culturale, tutela e valorizzazione del patrimonio storico-artistico italiano, filiera delle imprese culturali e creative, sviluppo sostenibile
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