Rearming Europe: 16 EU countries ready to increase defense spending.

More than half of the countries in the European Union plan to implement a state of emergency that will allow them to make defense investments exceeding the budget limits of the bloc.

Most EU countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Finland, seek greater freedom to bolster their defense capabilities. Twelve of them have already made an official request to the European Commission.

According to Politico, this exemption allows these countries to increase their defense spending to 1.5% of GDP each year for 4 years without violating EU fiscal rules.

Germany is the only European leader planning to take advantage of this provision. Countries with tight budgets, such as Italy and France, have not requested financial flexibility for military equipment purchases, nor have countries with stronger finances, such as the Netherlands and Sweden.

Despite this, Denmark has also joined the request to send a political signal. Minister for Economic Affairs Stefani Løwe stated: 'Activating this provision by Denmark will send a signal to the outside world that EU countries are united in their efforts to rearm.'

Italy's Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti is confident that the government in Rome can achieve NATO's target of 2% defense spending by changing its accounting to include more items. The country will wait for the NATO summit in June, when new spending targets will be agreed upon for all countries. The U.S. emphasizes the need for increased military spending from all members to consider further steps.