Meloni calls on NATO to adapt its military priorities in the face of new forms of warfare

The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urged NATO member countries to review their approach to defense spending, arguing that military priorities must evolve with the rapid transformation of modern conflicts.

Speaking before the Italian Parliament, she indicated that Italy plans to increase its defense and security spending to approximately 2,8% of its GDP by 2026, compared to a lower level the previous year. This increase is part of commitments made within NATO, but also reflects a national effort to strengthen the country's military capabilities.

According to her, a large part of this increase will come from positions related to internal security, including certain police missions, which allows Rome to adapt to the budgetary rules of the Atlantic Alliance.

However, the Italian leader cautioned against an overly simplistic view of military spending, focused solely on numerical targets. She believes that the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that contemporary conflicts increasingly rely on drones, satellites, and data exploitation, rather than traditional equipment alone.

She highlighted in particular that expensive weapons systems can be neutralized by much less expensive technologies, thus illustrating the growing imbalance between cost and effectiveness on the battlefield.

In this context, Giorgia Meloni calls on Western allies to rethink their military investments by giving more importance to emerging technologies, such as satellite capabilities and autonomous systems.

This stance comes as NATO countries regularly debate their financial commitments to defense, in an international context marked by the war in Ukraine and growing tensions with Russia.