As announced, spending on the defence ministry will rise from €3.6 bn to €6.1 bn due to an increase in equipment procurement in 2025.
"Compared to 2019, by 2025 health spending will have increased by 74% and defence spending by 73%, underlining the government's priorities," Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hadzidakis said in late November when he presented the 2025 state budget to parliament.
The main opposition parties, PASOK and SYRIZA, as well as the Hellenic Solution party, said they would vote in favour of increased defence spending.
Nikos Dendias, defence minister, told parliament that the spending was essential because of the challenges the country faced, especially from its historic rival Turkey.
"Are these costs too much? Whoever positions themselves on this issue needs to explain what criteria they are looking at. Is the country at risk? And where does the main threat to the country come from?" he said, noting that Turkey spends 26.8 billion euros on arms. Greece spends about 3 percent of its annual economic output on defense, which is more than most EU countries, mainly because of long-standing tensions with Turkey.
Greece's armed forces had a €20 billion shortfall during the country's decade-long debt crisis, Dendias said in November when he announced a shake-up of the defence force to set aside older weapons in favour of drones after lessons were learned from Ukraine's war against Russia.
Among the major changes in the radical overhaul is the creation of a dome for air and drone defense covering all of Greece.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on 15 December announced in a social media post that he would unveil the measures concerning the banking sector in a speech later that day. | BGNES
