More "freedom" for defense spending - 16 EU countries seek flexibility to strengthen the military
More than half of countries in the European Union plan to activate an emergency clause that allows them to make defense investments beyond the limits of the bloc's budget spending.
Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland are seeking greater flexibility to increase their defence capacity, according to a Council statement. Twelve of them have already submitted a formal request to the EU executive.
The exemption gives countries room to increase their defense spending by up to 1.5 percent of their Gross Domestic Product each year for four years, without violating EU fiscal rules.
Germany is the only major EU economy planning to use the clause. Countries with tight budgets, such as Italy or France, are not seeking fiscal flexibility for military equipment procurement, nor are countries with much healthier public finances, such as the Netherlands or Sweden.
Despite belonging to the latter group, Denmark also decided to join the request. The Ministry of Economy said that "the activation will help send a signal to the outside world, showing that EU countries are united in rearmament efforts."
The bloc's executive called on governments to decide as soon as possible, in order to coordinate fiscal policy before the markets and activate the clause fully by July.
The Italian Finance Ministry is confident that the government in Rome can meet NATO's 2 percent target by including more items in the defense budget. The country will wait until the NATO summit in June, when all countries are supposed to agree on new spending targets. The United States is pushing ahead with increasing military spending for all members, then considering further steps.
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