Denmark plans to triple its defense budget by spending $21 billion in 10 years

Europe, News May 31, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Denmark has announced to increase its defense spending by three folds over the course of the next 10 years. Copenhagen would spend around $21 billion on defense until 2023, aligning its military budget with NATO’s spending target.

NATO encourages its member states to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Denmark, a founding member of the NATO alliance, annually spends around $2.8 billion, or 1.38% of its GDP on defense. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several NATO member states have scaled up their defense spending exponentially.

“We must, to a greater extent, be able to live up to the demands and expectations that NATO and its allies have for Denmark,” the country’s acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told said at a press conference. “This requires large investments in our armed forces to lift our share of the responsibility,” he added.

Denmark gradually scaled back its military spending at the end of the Cold War. Copenhagen has acknowledged its shortcomings in the ability to defend its territories.

Last month, at the end of a joint NATO drill, the Dynamic Front exercise, Denmark’s Military Chief Major General Gunner Arpe Nielsen spoke with the reporters saying that his country has come under pressure to bring spending back up to a NATO target of 2% of GDP. “We need to get more robust and fix all the things we have neglected throughout the years since the Berlin Wall came down,” he said.

“The biggest gap we have is personnel. I think we need to grab all the tools in the toolbox to attract and retain young people,” said Nielsen. “It could be money, but equally important would be new buildings and new equipment, and give young people the possibility to train in better surroundings.”

*^{Danish F-16 AM fighter jets flying in formation. (Image Credit: Royal Danish Air Force)}*

Denmark’s plans for increased defense spending have been unveiled at the same time as the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has emerged as a serious contender to take the position of NATO secretary-general, with incumbent Jens Stoltenberg due to step down in September. Frederiksen could be the first female secretary-general to lead the world’s largest military alliance.

Apart from Frederiksen, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of Germany, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, and UK’s Defense Minister Ben Wallace have been featured in discussions to be the new NATO chief.