• Green light for the decree extending military missions abroad: total expenditure requirement of 1.48 billion euros across various theatres. Support for Libya continues.
• Meanwhile arms exports continue to boom: in 2025, a business worth 8.69 billion euros.
• The government, as part of the European common rearmament and defence plan, promises to reach 2 percent of GDP in military spending by the end of the year.

While the debate over a possible common rearmament plan remains very much open in Europe, Italy is playing its part on the militarisation front, both through the expansion of overseas missions and through the growth of arms exports. All this while Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, just a few days ago, assured Parliament that the goal of reaching 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in arms spending "should be achieved by 2025": this is the minimum target for NATO member states, but one Italy has never previously met.

La Milano ✓ @LaMilano_it

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Difesa europea e Patto di Stabilità: Giorgetti punta al 2% del PIL senza deroghe
In un contesto geopolitico sempre più complesso, l'Europa affronta il delicato equilibrio tra investimenti in sicurezza e stabilità economica.
lamilano.it/politica/difes…

12 apr 2025 · Apri su X →

In the meantime, the data from the Annual Report on military exports for 2024, submitted to Parliament, speak for themselves: never before has the national defence industry benefited so greatly from the global climate of rearmament. And Parliament itself approved, last week, the document by which the government extends Italy's military missions around the world into 2025, adding a few new elements.

Military missions: where we stand and what we spend

In 2025, the Meloni government has authorised the continuation of more than 30 international missions. The headline figures show a total expenditure requirement of 1.48 billion euros for the extended missions, with 2,867 military personnel involved in a new "high and very high operational readiness" force and 30 million euros earmarked for this latest initiative, ready to act in sudden crises under NATO's aegis. The missions range from the Western Balkans to Ukraine, from Libya to Lebanon, from Gaza to the Horn of Africa, with Italy increasingly integrated into NATO's deterrence and rapid reaction structures.

L'Eurispes.it @LEurispes

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Negli ultimi 10 anni, l'Italia ha partecipato alle principali #missioni multilaterali #Onu, #Nato e #Ue. Ma le #missioniinternazionali non bastano per costruire la #pace e la #sicurezza.
Leggi l'articolo al link
leurispes.it/litalia-nel-nu…

22 apr 2025 · Apri su X →

But the report of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the Chamber and Senate states that "with specific regard to the Mediterranean and the Near East, our country intends to help create the conditions for a post-war political scenario that takes into account, on the one hand, the need to put an end to Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip and, on the other, to ensure some form of interim administration of the territory itself, aimed at preparing a long-term arrangement; it also continues to support with conviction the stabilisation process in Libya under the aegis of the United Nations". Libya and Israel are clearly the two most sensitive dossiers. While in the Middle East, political wavering over condemning the ongoing massacre in Gaza notwithstanding, Italy is participating in the Operazione Levante mission — which aims to facilitate interim administration of the Strip while also providing humanitarian support — with regard to Libya, Italy "confirms its support for local authorities, both on the military level and through the Guardia di Finanza, for the control of maritime borders and the fight against migrant trafficking", despite extensive evidence of violations of the most basic human rights perpetrated by Libyan militias: several United Nations reports speak to this effect, as do the rulings of the International Criminal Court (see the Almasri case).

The boom in Italian arms exports

Against this backdrop, 2024 marked a boom in Italian military exports: the total value of licences issued reached 8.69 billion euros (+25 percent compared to 2023), of which 7.94 billion are linked to exports and brokering of armament materials. Individual export authorisations (to specific countries) grew by 35 percent, reaching 6.45 billion euros. Italy is confirmed as the sixth largest arms exporter in the world, according to SIPRI, with growth of 132 percent over the past decade. An expansion, the Rete Pace e Disarmo highlights, that also involves banking support, with many operations financed by Italian credit institutions. And here Israel comes back into the picture: despite an official arms embargo against Tel Aviv being in force, according to Giorgio Beretta, analyst at the Osservatorio Opal, "while it is true that in 2024 no new export authorisations were granted to Israel, it should be noted that the Customs Agency's Report records 212 export operations of military materials to Israel with a total value of 4.2 million euros, which must therefore be attributed to previously issued licences."

Rete Italiana Pace e Disarmo @RetePaceDisarmo

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La presa di posizione di @RetePaceDisarmo con la campagna @DemilitarizeDay: «Ridurre le spese militari, alimentano le guerre»

#SpeseMilitari #GDAMS
terranuova.it/news/movimenti…

♥ 11 20 apr 2025 · Apri su X →

Furthermore, in 2024 the exchange of military materials between Italy and Israel continued: 42 new authorisations for the import of weapons into our country were issued, worth 155 million euros, and, also in 2024, weapons worth 37 million euros were physically imported from Israel. "We have not yet reached the peaks of about ten years ago, which stemmed from mega-contracts for highly complex weapons systems," explains Francesco Vignarca, coordinator of Rete italiana pace disarmo, "but the continuously growing trend, especially in individual authorisations, shows us that the attempt is to profit more and more each year from the growth in global military spending." All of this while awaiting RearmEu.