ROME — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has opposed European Union plans to raise €800 billion ($870 billion) for defense spending, spoiling the bloc’s show of bravura in the face of Russian aggression and Donald Trump’s disregard.
The European windfall has been proposed by EU commission head Ursula vonder Leyen who is backing plans for €150 billion in loans for defense spending by member states.
A second proposal would see member states allowed to exempt defense spending worth up to 1.5 percent of their national GDP from EU debt rules which are designed to stop members racking up excessive deficits.
If all states take advantage of the exemption, the EU forecasts that bloc-wide defense spending will swell by €650 billion - combining with the loans to achieve a total of €800 billion.
But Italy PM Meloni gave the debt rule scheme a thumbs down when she met Von der Leyen in Brussels on Thursday ahead of an EU summit to discuss the plan.
She said she preferred to see private investors encouraged to put money into defense programs, or direct EU funding which “does not directly impact the state debts.”
Meloni’s lack of enthusiasm will have surprised defense officials in Europe since her government has repeatedly appealed to exempt defense spending from EU deficit spending limits.
That move, her defense minister Guido Crosetto has previously said, was the only way Italy could hope to increase its spending, which is around 1.5 percent of GDP.
Now that the EU has said Italy can do what it has been pushing to do for years, Meloni has declined to take up the offer.
One reason is that whether or not the EU allows fresh debt spending, the markets may be less forgiving.
Another reason is that Meloni remains skeptical about Europe becoming a defense superpower without strong backing from the Unites States.
This month she declined to join in with plans hatched by the U.K. andFrance to deploy peacekeepers to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
In a letter to Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Thursday, Meloni’s defense minister, Crosetto, wrote that only NATO, not the EU, offered a guarantee of military assistance among members.
“The only concrete and practical defense model, here and now, is NATO,” he wrote.
Meloni’s caution on rearming also reflects opposition from Italian voters to spending on arms rather than healthcare.
A poll this month reported that 54.6% of Italians oppose the €800 billion spending plan.
Meloni’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, a Eurosceptic who has long been soft on Russia, has also this week been opposing extra defense spending, claiming Italy’s biggest threat is Islamic terror, not Vladimir Putin.
Asked about a possible European army on Thursday, he replied, “What would a European army led by France and Germany do today: Would it go to war?”
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
