Romania Spent Under 1% of GDP on Defense in 2024, NATO Urges More

Mark Rutte: "Spend more on defense or start learning Russian or go to New Zealand".

The Ministry of Defense (MApN) states, in a response to an interpellation in the Chamber of Deputies, that only 20% of the defense budget is intended for the army’s equipment. According to data published on the MApN website, Romania spent over 13 billion lei in 2024 – the equivalent of about 2.6 billion euros – on the acquisition of “fixed assets and military equipment“.

Romania’s estimated gross domestic product in 2024 is 340-350 billion euros. The amount of 2.6 billion euros spent on the army’s endowment thus represents an effective percentage of about 0.74% of GDP.

“Romania remains fully committed to the defense modernization process, the allocated budget, which represents over 2% of the gross domestic product, of which 20% is intended for endowment, reflecting NATO’s commitment to defense investments (Defense Investment Pledge),” the MApN response states.

In 2024, the Romanian army spent over 20 billion lei (the equivalent of over 4 billion euros) on salaries, allowances, monetary rights, pensions. Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr said he was satisfied with the budget execution for last year, which is close to one hundred percent. According to the minister, the Ministry of National Defense had an allocation of 2.28 percent of GDP and spent 2.26 percent.

“The budget execution for last year will approach 100% because at the ministry level those things were done that would allow for a higher budget execution than in 2023 and I think it is a good thing because it allowed us to do things that the Army expected, that we wanted, in the cadence that we proposed,” said Angel Tîlvăr. The Minister of National Defense also said that there are some delays in the delivery of military equipment.“This is taking into account that from the point of view of procurement, due to security challenges, the security environment, there are delays in the deliveries of military equipment, for a very simple reason: demand has increased exponentially,” Tîlvăr stated. Angel Tîlvăr also said that the ministry he heads has spent the money allocated from the budget “very well”.

However, more is asked from the NATO countries to allot to the defense budgets.

The European Union must rethink its budget priorities to increase defense spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a speech to members of the European Parliament. Rutte warned that if spending is not increased, Europeans “should take Russian lessons or go to New Zealand.

“On average, European countries spend a quarter of their GDP on pensions, health and welfare, and we only need a small part of that money to strengthen our defense,” Rutte said.

In his first public appearance in the European Parliament since becoming NATO secretary general, Rutte said the goal of his mandate was to “bring NATO and the EU closer together” in order to counter the Kremlin’s “destabilizing campaign,” along with other threats from countries like China and Iran, such as cyberattacks and nuclear threats.

The defense ministers of Germany, the UK, France, Poland and Italy also admitted after a meeting in Warsaw that the future of democracy in Europe depends on the amounts that European states spend on defense, Politico reported.

“2025 will be the year of spending in Europe’s defense industry, in which we will abandon the bureaucracy that has slowed this process down. We will close ranks and we will have to show unity and demonstrate that we take European values ​​seriously, including security, which we consider our No. 1 priority at the moment,” said Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Poland aims to spend 4.7% of GDP on defense by 2025 – being, by far, the NATO state with the highest such amount allocated to defense spending.

The UK, France and Germany will spend around 2% of GDP – the current budget “target” for NATO member states, while Italy is expected to spend 1.49% of GDP on defense.

The incoming US president, Donald Trump, recently called on NATO members to spend 5% of GDP on defense. The move, which would more than double the current target, represents a new challenge for the transatlantic alliance.

2024defenseEUGDPMApNnatoNATO Secretary General Mark RutteRomania
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