{"id":16683,"date":"2025-04-06T17:07:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/?p=16683"},"modified":"2025-04-06T17:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:26:21","slug":"difesa-e-minacce-la-nato-spende-di-piu-ma-leuropa-puo-davvero-reggere-il-passo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/defence-and-threats-nato-spends-more-but-europe-can-really-keep-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Defence and threats: NATO spends more, but can Europe really keep up?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the war in Ukraine raging since 2022 and Donald Trump's political line on NATO, Europe is at a crucial moment for its security future. The Atlantic Alliance, historically driven by the United States, is now facing an increasing need for reorganisation, not only strategically but also financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US remains the largest NATO contributor, with a colossal defence budget of 895.6 billion in 2024<\/strong> (approximately USD 880 billion in 2023). A figure so high that it alone exceeds the sum of the next eight countries in the world<\/strong> in terms of military investment, according to an analysis by Al Jazeera<\/em> based on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)<\/a><\/em>. This primacy reflects Washington's dominant role in the global chessboard, but also highlights the asymmetry between NATO members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Defence<\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The global arms race<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Global military expenditure reached a record high in 2023 of USD 2,440 billion<\/strong>up 6.8% over the previous year. This is the most significant jump since 2009, and marks the return of competition between major powers. The China<\/strong>with 309 billion, retains second place, followed by Russia<\/strong> with 126 billion. However, if one looks at expenditure per capita<\/strong>, the proportions change dramatically: the US invests USD 2,694 per inhabitant<\/strong>while China spends 208. Israel, with $2,997 per inhabitant, holds the world record. Saudi Arabia<\/strong>with expenditure amounting to 7.1% of its GDP, reaches 2,052 dollars per capita<\/strong>a figure comparable to the American one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the most extreme cases, Ukraine stands out: in the midst of the conflict with Russia, in 2023 it allocated 62.1 billion to defence<\/strong>, amounting to 36.7% of GDP<\/strong> and to over half of total public expenditure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Defence<\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Europe increases spending, but lags behind<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Over the past ten years, European military expenditure has grown steadily. In the last year alone, it increased by11.7% in real terms<\/strong>, reaching 423.3 billion<\/strong>. An increase of 50% compared to 2014<\/strong>but still insufficient compared to the standards set by Washington. The 23 EU countries that are members of NATO have achieved an expenditure of 2% of combined GDP in 2024<\/strong>and are expected to touch the 2.04% in 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Donald Trump<\/strong> - in view of a possible re-election - launched the idea that NATO members should allocate at least 5% of its GDP to defence<\/strong>a proposal supported by the EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas<\/strong> and also welcomed by the French President Emmanuel Macron<\/strong>, which aims at 3.5% of GDP for France<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big and small efforts: Germany, Poland, Spain<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Among European economies, the Germany<\/strong> saw an increase of 23,2%<\/strong> of military expenditure between 2023 and 2024, becoming the fourth largest country in the world<\/strong> per defence budget. The Poland<\/strong>on NATO's eastern border, has instead brought its commitment to the 4.12% of GDP<\/strong>becoming the European country with the highest expenditure-to-GDP ratio, followed by Estonia<\/strong> (3,43%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not all European countries follow the same pace. The Spain<\/strong> refused to give in to Trump's pressure: it only plans to reach 2% of GDP in 2029, starting from the current 17.5 billion<\/strong>. L'Italy<\/strong>with an expenditure of USD 34.5 billion (1.49% of GDP)<\/strong>, remains below the NATO average<\/strong>investing 603 dollars per citizen<\/strong>compared to 946 in France and 1,106 in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Defence<\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A fragmented Alliance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today, 23 out of 32 NATO countries meet the 2% GDP target, compared to just three in 2014. But the differences remain marked. If the spending growth trend were to remain constant, an average of 3% of GDP could be reached within five years and 5% within ten. However, maintaining these rates appears unrealistic<\/strong>especially without structural reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As pointed out Jeromin Zettelmeyer<\/strong>director of the think tank Bruegel<\/em>Europe must pooling military procurement<\/strong> to increase defensive capabilities at an affordable cost. Only through industrial cooperation and integration<\/strong>the EU will be able to strengthen its security without compromising economic stability.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the war in Ukraine raging since 2022 and Donald Trump's political line on NATO, Europe is at a crucial moment for its security future. The Atlantic Alliance, historically driven by the United States, now faces an increasing need for reorganisation, not only [...]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[80,174,63,792],"sgg_keywords":[],"class_list":["post-16683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internazionali","tag-difesa","tag-europa","tag-nato","tag-spesa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16683"},{"taxonomy":"sgg_keywords","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigatafolgore.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sgg_keywords?post=16683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}