To exclude the increase in defense expenditure from budgetary targets
The request to the European Council and the European Commission to activate the national escape clause provided by European fiscal rules has been submitted today by the Minister of National Economy and Finance. Kyriakos Pierrakakis. The aim is to exclude the increase in defense spending from budgetary objectives, based on the decision taken by the European Council of March 6, 2025.
Defense spending in Greece in budgetary terms (Cofog-Eurostat definition) are estimated to increase from 2.2% of GDP in 2024 to 2.3% in 2025 and to 2.5% in 2026as a result of the implementation of the new long -term defense program recently approved by the government. This covers the period 2025-2036, and is expected to lead to high levels of defense spending after 2026.
According to the provisions of the activation of the national escape clause, The budgetary rules will continue to operate normally. The deviations from the approved limits of net primary expenditure, for other expenditure other than defense, will be recorded in the check account of Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1263.
Based on the above, for 2026, an increase in equipment costs of € 0.5 billion has been increased by the budgetary targets, according to forecasts of the national escape clause.
