Benn Steil at the Council on Foreign Relations doubts that Europe will meet American demands to raise defense spending to the promised level of 2% of GDP. In a blog post Wednesday, Steil said that the EU restrictions on budget deficits, which must be limited to 3% of GDP, create a barrier to increased defense spending. He continued that, while there have been no concrete enforcement actions yet, some, including Italy, have been threatened with fines, and almost half of EU NATO members would have broken the limit if they raised defense spending to 2%.
EU rules prevent NATO members from 2% defense goal: Benn Steil
Steil found that almost half of EU NATO members would have broken EU rules on budget deficits if they raised defense spending to 2%.
