The gun battle between Giuseppe Conte and Mario Draghi could cost Italy dearly, which risks not being able to compete for the role of NATO Secretary General that it would be entitled to in 2023.
“Reaching 2% of GDP for military spending by 2028, as announced by the defense secretary, smacks of a compromise to avoid problems with the government. In this way Italy would perhaps reach this threshold within six years if, on the other hand, needs might require it sooner and at least two governments had changed in the meantime. It is a position that risks undermining Italy’s reliability and credibility, both at the level of the Atlantic Alliance and at the level of the European Union ».
This was announced to the Adnkronos by Army Corps General in Reserve Giorgio Battisti, President of the Military Department of the Italian Atlantic Committee. Regarding the position of former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Battisti stresses that he does not want to go into the merits of the “political diatribe”, but “it is clear that these are issues related to the next elections in 2023”. “The fact is that a question of an ideologicalpolitical nature has technicalmilitary and diplomatic and international political consequences,” he adds. “Almost all Western countries, including Germany, which has always been the beacon of Europe’s most pacifist nations, have decided to increase their defense budget in a few years he adds if the same operational standards of efficiency and modernity as most NATO countries apply, which have already reached the 2% limit and in some cases, such as Greece and France, even exceeded it, we risk having less capacity than these countries and consequently becoming a weight in the overall Atlantic Alliance economy: you should they support us for the military shortcomings due to this 2% delay, assuming that it will be reached in 2028 ».
“This can also pose difficulties in putting forward an Italian candidacy for the next NATO Secretary General, who will be chosen by the countries of the Atlantic Alliance in 2023 he stresses Also compared to the possibility feared by Ukraine that Italy will be one of the guarantors of the ceasefire, we risk not having enough weight and credibility to aspire to that position ». He concludes: “We do not show any credibility if we want to respect the agreement reached at the 2014 NATO summit in Wales to reach the 2% of GDP level for the armed forces”. The general stresses that “from a technical point of view, these limitations should not have existed, 2% of GDP had to be achieved in accordance with the national industrial plan and with the planning of the defense staff, which should define the priority of expanding and improving the facilities and equipment of the armed forces ». “So not a political border, but a technicalmilitary planning, linked to the needs of the armed forces, also in the face of this conflict in Ukraine, missile defense, the ability to project beyond the country’s borders, the presence of naval resources that they can also have in the IndoPacific, which is one of the goals, albeit a secondary one, of the Atlantic Alliance ». Finally, according to General Battisti, it is important to avoid that “the ideologicalpolitical positioning associated with the next elections requires the improvement of the operational capabilities of all armed forces”.