Presentation of the Report on Italian Milex

Today, the Italian Observatory on Military Spending will present its second annual Report on Italian Milex at the Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament. The Report contains a reasoned analysis of the Italian military budget for 2018 (with definitive data compared to the provisional ones released during the parliamentary debate of the Budget Law), with an specific focus on military bases, on the cost of US nuclear weapons hosted in Italy, and on the Italian armaments race.

This “MIL € X 2018” Report includes final data on Italian military expenditure 2018. In particular, it analyzes the recorded trend during the XVII Legislature that is about to end. Once again, elements are provided to evaluate the internal imbalance of the budget components that gives advantage to the ever increasing investment in armament (remembering the strong co-financing by the MiSE) and addresses in particular the theme of military bases (both the Italian one in Djibouti and those hosted on the national territory). Particular attention is given to first (and preventive) estimates on the costs for Italy of the so-called “nuclear sharing” in NATO. This aspect has been informed during the Press Conference also by Daniel Högsta, Network Coordinator of the ICAN campaign (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons). ICAN has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
Among additional items in the “MIL € X 2018” Report, we can underline the “endless” military missions abroad, an item on the F-35 fighter-bombers purchase program, the armed “treasure” of the Investment Fund as desired by the Renzi Government, the so-called “Gold skid” military pension and other related privileges, and the expensive budget which is dedicated to military priests.

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