Italy is advancing plans to create a 10,000-strong military reserve corps, drawing on trained former service members for rapid mobilisation during emergencies.
Nino Minardo, chair of the Lower House Defence Committee, confirmed on Wednesday that government and opposition parties would collaborate on a unified draft law starting 8 July to establish this voluntary auxiliary force.
The initiative mirrors Austria’s model, where 35,000 reservists undergo mandatory 30-day annual training cycles for five years, subject to employer approval. This development addresses urgent capacity warnings from Chief of Defence Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, who declared Italy’s current 160,000 active personnel “still insufficient.”
Even with 170,000, we’re operating at the edge of survival. I’ll keep asking for more troops until they kick me out.
The reserve framework aims to enhance operational flexibility without straining recruitment systems. Admiral Dragone emphasised that personnel shortages critically undermine Italy’s ability to fulfil NATO missions and national defence obligations, noting that peer nations like France and Germany maintain larger standing forces.
Spending revisions and strategic realignments
However, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s commitment to meet NATO’s 2% GDP defence spending target in 2025 faces scrutiny amid revelations that the goal relies significantly on accounting revisions rather than substantial new investment.
While the national budget law projects defence expenditure at 1.57% of GDP, Meloni’s pledge involves reclassifying existing outlays, including overseas mission funding and military pensions, under defence calculations.
Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte condemned on Wednesday the authorities’ efforts to increase the country’s defence spending amid the European Parliament’s permission to use the Recovery Fund money for military spending and rearmament.
To obtain those 209 billion for Italy for infrastructure, schools, healthcare and work we gave our soul. If it had been up to Giorgia Meloni we would never have had those funds. Today she is not even able to spend them and with her party in Europe she is paving the way for their use for military spending.
This recalibration occurs amid heated NATO negotiations over potentially higher targets. US officials under President Donald Trump have pushed allies toward 5% GDP spending, a figure Defence Minister Guido Crosetto dismissed as unrealistic for Italy, citing its “massive public debt” projected to hit 138% of GDP in 2026.
We are maintaining a conservative stance on the matter because we do not want other key investments, such as those on public health or social spending, to be affected.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani similarly cautioned that increasing defence expenditure to 3.5–5% would require “at least 10 years.”
