Newspaper: Europe needs an additional 56 billion euros annually to cover NATO funding

The Financial Times reported that the European member states of NATO need an additional 56 billion euros annually to cover the alliance’s spending at 2% of each of them’s gross product.

The newspaper based this on a study conducted by the German Institute for Economic Studies (IFO).

The newspaper reported that NATO countries pledged to allocate 2% of their gross domestic product to defense, but not all member states have implemented this currently. The newspaper noted that the alliance's budget deficit was reduced by half over the past decade.

The study showed that many of the EU countries with the lowest military spending, including Italy, Spain and Belgium, “also suffer from very high levels of debt and have the highest budget deficits in Europe.”

It turned out that Germany recorded the largest deficit in 2023, as it spent 14 billion euros less than it needed to achieve these indicators last year.

The study indicated that over the past decade, Berlin “reduced this gap by half, and plans to close it completely this year.” Germany's shortfall is followed by Spain (11 billion euros), Italy (10.8 billion euros) and Belgium (4.6 billion euros).

Marcel Schleper, an economist at the Ifo Institute, believes that the above-mentioned countries will have to reduce spending in other areas in order to achieve the alliance’s defense spending target, and this is not an easy matter, because it will spark protests among the population.

While presenting his annual report on NATO activity, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his hope that European countries would invest $470 billion in defense in 2024.