Almost All NATO Countries Are Still Struggling to Find Funds to Raise Defense Spending

According to the agency, France, the UK, and Italy are facing the most serious difficulties. Spain, for its part, is refusing on principle to move toward the new target.

Germany is ready to increase military spending, but is doing so by taking on more public debt. Under the draft budget, Berlin plans to make use of a rule change that exempts defense spending from strict borrowing limits. This should allow Germany to double defense spending to more than €200 billion, or $228.38 billion, by 2030.

The UK has announced plans to increase defense spending by £15 billion. However, a third of that amount is not yet funded. The plan also does not specify when defense spending will reach 3% of GDP. It is currently below that level.

In Italy, higher defense spending remains unpopular with voters ahead of national elections due next year. As a result, a significant share of the announced increase will be covered by domestic security spending, including police funding.

In April, France presented plans to raise military spending from the current level of about 2% of GDP to 2.5% by the end of the decade. At the same time, Paris is trying to bring its overall budget deficit into line with eurozone rules, creating additional difficulties ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Spain’s Socialist government, according to Reuters, does not intend to abandon its position that defense spending should not exceed 2.1% of GDP. Madrid plans to direct much of the new funding toward technologies that can also be used in the civilian sector.

Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia are already moving toward the new targets. Warsaw spent 4.3% of GDP on defense last year.