ROME — Defence ministers from Italy and Germany on Friday acknowledged that their countries must step up military investments to close longstanding capability gaps within NATO, as pressure mounts to significantly raise spending across the alliance.
Following a high-level meeting in Rome with counterparts from France, Poland, and the United Kingdom, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto voiced support for greater contributions from traditionally low-spending NATO members.
Their remarks come amid growing calls from the United States for NATO allies to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP over the next decade — far beyond the alliance’s current 2% target.
“All NATO members in Europe and beyond have a responsibility to strengthen our collective capabilities, whether that requires 2.5%, 3%, or even more,” Pistorius told reporters. While he avoided endorsing a specific figure, he suggested the real costs of meeting capability goals will exceed the existing 2% benchmark.
Italy, facing significant public debt, has historically struggled to meet NATO’s targets. Rome only reached the 2% threshold in 2025 by broadening its accounting methods to include expenditures like military pensions, previously excluded from the tally. Germany, by contrast, has made notable strides, with NATO estimating its defence spending reached 2.12% of GDP in 2024 — nearly doubling from a decade ago.
Crosetto, a key figure in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet, admitted that both Italy and Germany lagged in prioritising defence in recent years. “We didn’t invest as much as others because we didn’t see the urgency. Now, that has changed,” he said.
The renewed focus on military readiness comes as tensions persist across Europe, underscored by the resumption of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul earlier the same day — the first such dialogue in three years.