© RTL
On Monday afternoon, Minister of Defence François Bausch presented plans to increase the Grand Duchy’s defence budget by €100 million in 2024.
Minister Bausch made it clear that although Luxembourg will significantly increase its defence budget, there is no intention to comply with the NATO requirement of committing 2% of the country’s GDP to military spending. The Greens politician explained that Luxembourg’s elevated GDP would require an enormous sum, which could see €1.7 billion spent on defence every year.
Minister Bausch underlined the excessiveness of the proposed spending: “It would allow Luxembourg to finance a complete F35 fighter jet programme, as is currently being done in Belgium. Alternatively, the Grand Duchy would be able to finance one satellite, one fighter jet, one cargo plane, and 80 tactical vehicles per year. I wouldn’t even know where to store all these things.” The Minister of Defence also stressed that the proposed spending rate would make up 7.5% of the government’s budget.
© Jeannot Ries / RTL
At the moment, the defence budget is €464 million, which equals 0.65% of GDP. With Luxembourg determined to increase the budget to €558 million in 2024, the rate will increase to 0.72%.
After members of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) recently argued that Luxembourg should commit 1% of its GDP to defence purposes, Minister Bausch explained that adding another 0.3% would not make sense: “We have to keep our feet on the ground and invest in projects that make sense for our country.”
The Minister concluded by saying that last year, Luxembourg contributed €15 million to NATO’s defence, which equalled 3% of its defence budget.