Denmark Plans 20% Defense Budget Hike

COPENHAGEN --- The Danish government wants to raise its defence budget by 20 percent over the next five years in response to Russia stepping up military activity in eastern and northern Europe.

It said its proposed 20-percent hike of the defence budget should be carried out gradually over a five-year period. The total increase would amount to 4.8 billion Danish crowns ($762 million) by 2023.

Much of the West has been troubled by Russia’s actions since its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula Crimea and its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 10,000 people.

The proposed increase will raise Denmark’s defence spending to 1.3 percent of GDP in 2023, up from 1.2 percent last year. NATO, to which Denmark belongs, requires its members to spend 2 percent of GDP on defence annually, though this is an informal target. (end of excerpt)

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