Greece will spend €25 billion through to 2036 in the “most drastic” defence overhaul in its modern history, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, April 2nd.
The drive, which includes a new anti-missile, anti-aircraft, and anti-drone defensive dome called “Achilles’ Shield,” is aimed at addressing rapidly changing geopolitical challenges and fraying transatlantic ties, Mitsotakis told parliament.
Greece has traditionally invested at least two percent of its gross domestic product in defence— NATO’s spending target—owing to decades of tension with regional rival Turkey.
But the new initiative is also designed to make the country of under 11 million “a key branch” of the European Union’s defence mechanism, contributing one of the bloc’s “most advanced” armies, Mitsotakis said.
Alongside Poland, Estonia, and Latvia, Greece is now one of the few NATO member states that allocates more than three percent of its output to defence.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stressed that the EU must significantly increase its arms spending in the face of the threat from Russia. France, Germany, and Poland recently announced plans to bolster their militaries.
