Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 29, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
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Greece will ask the EU to exempt its 2026 defence spending from budget rules, seeking fiscal leeway for a 500 million euro allocation.
ATHENS -Greece will ask the European Commission to exempt its 2026 defence spending from the EU's budget rules as part of the so-called fiscal escape clause, its finance minister said on Tuesday.
The country will submit a request later on Tuesday seeking to exempt defence spending worth 500 million euros ($569.60 million) earmarked for 2026, less than 0.3% of its GDP, Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis told public broadcaster ERT.
The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year for four years without any of the disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a deficit rises above 3% of GDP.
Greece, a member of the European Union and NATO, already spends about 3% of its gross domestic product on defence. That is nearly double the average in the EU, which is under pressure to boost defence spending as Europe's 75-year-old alliance with the United States comes under strain.
Greece emerged from a 2009-2018 debt crisis that cut a quarter of its output and its economy is now outpacing its euro zone peers. The country achieved a primary budget surplus of 4.8% of output last year, beating the government's estimate.
Athens aims to spend 25 billion euros by 2036 as part of a multi-year defence plan to modernise its armed forces and as it tries to keep pace with its historic rival Turkey.
($1 = 0.8778 euros)
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
The main topic is Greece's request to the EU for fiscal leeway on its 2026 defence spending.
Greece aims to modernize its armed forces and maintain its defence budget without breaching EU fiscal rules.
Greece plans to allocate 500 million euros for 2026, part of a larger 25 billion euro plan by 2036.
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