WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tuesday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, slammed attempts by European nations such as Spain and Italy to reclassify climate change and economic competitiveness spending as defense spending as Europe tries to get more serious about defending itself.
“As the EU grapples with exempting member states’ defense spending from fiscal restrictions, some appear more concerned by what they can reclassify as defense spending rather than actually spend on military readiness,” said Ricketts. “Spain, for example, has argued that defense spending should include broader civil defense costs such as climate change, while Italy has said that measures related to economic competitiveness should count. Last time I checked, you actually need hard assets like bullets to be able to shoot. You can’t shoot climate change at anybody.”
“Now I realize defense spending isn’t just a matter of percent of GDP, it’s not the only panacea. For example, Italy hosts 30,000 military personnel and their families, as well as the Navy’s Sixth Fleet in Naples,” said Ricketts. “However, when countries which still haven’t met the 2% NATO target that was set over a decade ago, resort to accounting tricks to weaken our collective defense, it makes my position as a supporter of the Transatlantic Alliance more difficult.”
Ricketts made the comments in a hearing of the Committee on Foreign Relations. The hearing focused on considering the nominations of Warren Stephens to be Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Tilman Fertitta to be Ambassador to the Italian Republic and the Republic of San Marino, and Thomas Barrack Jr. to be U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye.
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