The announcement came amid bilateral talks between Italy and the US. 

Italy will meet the NATO 2% of GDP spending target this year, Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti told Italy’s parliament on 17 April. 

The country was set to spend around 1.5% of GDP on defence in 2024, although Giorgetti says that a series of accounting changes will see it meet 2% this year. 

It is unclear how much of this increase will be taken up by pensions and civilian technologies. 

It comes amid a series of bilateral talks between Italy and the US, where it was reported that US President Donald Trump and Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni had discussed defence spending. 

Meloni met the president in Washington on 17 April, before hosting Vice President JD Vance in Rome the following day. 

In a joint press statement between the two leaders, both countries reiterated their “unwavering commitment to NATO and to the principle of developing their collective and individual capacity to contribute to the alliance’s goals”. 

Italy follows a number of European countries which are boosting defence spending this year.  

In recent months, DSEI has reported on this increased defence spending across NATO, with Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the EU, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Sweden and the UK among those promising rises or new funds since February. 

This has been partly influenced by the EU’s new ReArm Europe plan, which allows members to increase defence spending without being penalised under the Excessive Deficit Procedure.  

Despite this, earlier this month, Giorgetti said he had no intention of using the EU-wide debt rule exemption to fund defence.  

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