Greece as a NATO Strategic Member Country and a Valued EU Member State: An analysis of Greek Defense Expenditures in the Post-memorandum Era

Abstract

During the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, the Heads of State and Government agreed among others to strengthen their commitment to defense investment as well as to step up the support to Kyiv. In February 2024, the Secretary General of NATO announced that for the first time the European allies will spend 2% of their collective GDP on defense in 2024. Apart from the US support, EU has also agreed to support Ukraine military. However, due to the high defense expenditures of those EU member states which simultaneous are and NATO member countries, the EU had to reform its fiscal rules. The purpose of this article is firstly to indicate the consequences of the economic crisis on Greek expenditures from 2010 to 2018 based on quantitative data. Secondly, the article presents the outmost increase of Greek defense expenditures in the post-memorandum era based again on quantitative data. Thirdly, the article analyzes the role of Greece as a NATO strategic member country and a valued EU member state. Finally, the article analyzes the new economic and fiscal governance framework of the EU, adopted in April 2024, which exempts member states’ defense spending from the strict budget deficit rules of the Stability and Growth Pact.