U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth thanked Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto for Italy’s “growing defense leadership in Europe,” ahead of a bilateral meeting at the Pentagon this week.
“In today's vital global landscape, our partnership is more important than ever,” said Secretary Hegseth, who noted the “steadfast support” of the government and people of Italy in continuing to host some 30,000 U.S. servicemembers.
During their meeting, the two leaders discussed a mutual priority to implement “NATO 3.0,” which is a reenvisioning of NATO that includes a move to return to many of the original principals of the alliance.
“The Secretary and the Minister agreed on the urgent need for NATO allies to assume primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe by increasing defense spending, boosting defense industrial base production, and fielding lethal, combat credible forces,” wrote Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell in a statement.
“Our allies need to fully resource their armed forces to meet the challenges head-on, and this means rebalancing our alliance, our shared alliance, to focus on NATO's core warfighting mission, which I know you very much appreciate, and I appreciate that,” said Secretary Hegseth.
Secretary Hegseth noted that European allies, including Italy, have stepped up by agreeing to commit 5% of their gross domestic product toward their own defense.
“We seek partners and Italy is certainly one of them. And you're leaning forward in that aspect.”
He noted that hope that other allies will also commit to this goal. He complimented Italy’s leadership of NATO's multinational battle group in Bulgaria and the country’s willingness to engage in theaters where Italy has high economic and security stakes.
Secretary Hegseth and Defense Minister Crosetto also discussed the importance of boosting defense industrial cooperation. Defense Minister Crosetto noted that Italy is the only place where F-35s are built outside of the United States. “The relationship between the Italy and the United States must be a win-win relationship,” he noted.
“We are reinvesting in our defense industrial base and in our defense in ways that we believe shows the world how important we take our own security, but collective security as well,” said Secretary Hegseth.
U.S.-Italian military cooperation has stretched over 80 years. The commitment of that partnership is evident as the two countries work together to build the kind of strength necessary to sustain peace.