Greece will almost double its defence spending with parliamentary debate on the 2025 state budget expected to culminate Sunday with a roll-call vote, traditionally regarded as a vote of confidence in the government.
As announced, spending for the defence ministry will rise to 6.1 billion euros from 3.6 billion euros, due to the increase in equipment deliveries in 2025.
鈥楥ompared to 2019, by 2025, spending on health will have increased by 74 per cent and spending on defence by 73 per cent, underlining the government鈥檚 priorities,鈥� minister of economy and finance Kostis Hatzidakis said late November when he submitted the state budget for 2025 to parliament.
The major opposition parties, PASOK and SYRIZA as well as the Hellenic Solution party, have said they will vote in favour of the increased defence spending.
Nikos Dendias, the defence minister, told parliament Saturday that the spending was essential because of the challenges the country faces, especially from its historic rival Turkey.
鈥業s this spending too much? Whoever is positioning themselves on this needs to explain on what criteria they are considering. Is the country threatened? And where is the main threat to the country coming from?鈥� he asked, noting that Turkey spends 26.8 billion euros on armaments.聽 Greece spends around three percent of its annual economic output on defence, higher than most EU states, mainly because of long-running tension with Turkey.
Greek armed forces had a 20-billion-euro shortfall during the country鈥檚 decade-long debt crisis, Dendias said in November, when he announced a shake-up of the defence forces to sideline older weapons in favour of drones after lessons drawn from Ukraine鈥檚 war against Russia.
Among the main changes in the radical overhaul is the creation of an anti-air and anti-drone defence dome covering the whole of Greece.
Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced Sunday morning in a social media post that he will present measures concerning the banking sector in a speech in the evening.
