Sports

Greece to ask EU for fiscal leeway on defence spending, minister says

ATHENS -Greece will ask the European Commission to exempt its 2026 defence spending from the EU's budget rules as part of the so-called fiscal escape clause, its finance minister said on Tuesday. The country will submit a request later on Tuesday seeking to exempt defence spending worth 500 million euros ($569.60 million) earmarked for 2026, less than 0.3% of its GDP, Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis told public broadcaster ERT. The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year for four years without any of the disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a deficit rises above 3% of GDP.

ATHENS -Greece will ask the European Commission to exempt its 2026 defence spending from the EU's budget rules as part of the so-called fiscal escape clause, its finance minister said on Tuesday. The country will submit a request later on Tuesday seeking to exempt defence spending worth 500 million euros ($569.60 million) earmarked for 2026, less than 0.

3% of its GDP, Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis told public broadcaster ERT. The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year for four years without any of the disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a deficit rises above 3% of GDP.

.