Luxembourg will spend more on military

Luxembourg will spend significantly more than before on its military. Defence Minister François Bausch announced on Friday that spending should increase from 573 million euros next year to almost one billion euros in 2028. The country will then spend about one percent of its gross domestic product on defence. This significant increase had become necessary because of the “current security situation in Europe” and because of obligations to NATO. This will be officially announced at the NATO summit starting on June 27 in Madrid.

Compared to the year 2014, the Luxembourg expenditure on defence is thus fivefold, it said. The decision should be permanent.

At a summit in Wales in 2014, NATO members agreed on a target of defence spending of two percent of gross domestic product. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said that the 2 percent target does not take into account the special situation of Luxembourg, whose gross domestic product is significantly higher than that of other NATO members.

Luxembourg, with a total of around 1000 soldiers, intends to spend the additional money, among other things, on strengthening a Belgian-Luxembourg reconnaissance battalion and on its share of NATO air transport capacity, airspace surveillance and medically equipped transport aircraft. It also wants to promote the development of drones and military satellites.