The discussion of the days to Greece and Europe concerns the White Bible of the Commission to increase defense spendinga proposal that aims to allow Member States to spend hundreds of billions of euros on weapons and other military needs.
Without even the details of the plan have been made clear and to what extent Greece will benefit, the Commission clarifies that its proposals to activate the national escape clause to increase defense spending by up to 1.5% per year relate to those included in the statistical category of “defense”. Dobrovsky, to clarify that these are:
- Military defense
- Civil defense
- Military assistance abroad
- Research & Development on Defense
- Supportive capabilities
It follows from the above that the definition of expenditure that will be excluded from the deficit in the event of an escape clause activation is quite “rigorous” by limiting the costs to the narrow “military”, and not, for example, for costs related to salaries of the Armed Forces staff.
What spends Greece on each category
In general, Greece is one of those countries that spend a lot (always in relation to their GDP) on defense. In fact, these costs follow an increasing trend over the years.
According to NATO official data, Greece in 2024 was in the 5th place in terms of alliance Member States spending the highest percentage of their GDP on defense. Poland is in the first place with 4.12%, Estonia 2nd with 3.43%, 3rd the US with 3.38%, in the 4th of Latvia with 3.15%and Greece with 3.08%. Indeed, our country’s defense spending is significantly increased compared to 2014, when they did not exceed 2.2% (influenced by the country’s debt crisis and general costs of spending).
In total spending, with regard to Greek defense spending, 36.1% relates to equipment costs with this percentage in 2014 being about 8%. In this particular NATO index, Greece ranks 10th, behind Poland, Hungary, Albania, Finland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Latvia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom.
Based on cost analysis, Greece in 2024 spent over 36.1% for equipment, 55.9% on military staff costs, 7.7% at operating costs, and only 0.3% in infrastructure.
It should be noted that the data for the 2024 that NATO quotes are estimated. On the basis of these, the overall course of Greece’s defense spending is generally increasing.
In 2014, Greece’s total defense spending amounted to EUR 3,939 billion, in 2015 amounted to $ 4,073 billion, in 2016 at € 4,190 billion, in 2017 at $ 4,208 billion, in 2018 at € 4,560 billion, in 2019 at € 4,483 billion, 2020 at € 4,812 billion, 2021 billion in € 6,76 2022 at 8,054 billion, 2023 at € 6,224 billion and 2024, according to NATO measurements, at € 7,126 billion.
It is noted that in 2025 the provision of defense spending is € 6.13 billion, with equipment payments set at € 2,494 billion.