Denmark has said it will increase its military budget by a combined 50 billion Danish krone (€6.71 billion) this year and next to address acute shortcomings, most notably in surface-to-air missile defence systems.
After decades of drastic cuts in defence spending, Denmark last year allocated an extra 190 billion krone (€25.47 billion) for its military over a 10-year span but has now concluded that more is needed and that it must come quickly.
On February 19, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a press conference: “Does the world look uneasy? Yes. Is there reason to believe it will be over soon? No.”
“There is one message for the chief of defence: Buy, buy, buy!”
She said procurement would be made without going through the normal lengthy tender procedures.
“If we can’t get the best equipment, buy the next best. There’s only one thing that counts now and that is speed,” Frederiksen said.
On February 17, she said Russia had become a threat to all of Europe and called on each country to ramp up defence spending to protect themselves while also increasing their support for Ukraine.
Denmark and most other NATO members have also come under increased pressure from US President Donald Trump to boost military capabilities further.
Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Denmark’s increase would lift overall military spending to 3.2 per cent in 2025 from 1.37 per cent in 2022, the year that Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The investments will weaken Denmark’s public sector fiscal balance, going from a sizeable surplus in recent years to a potential deficit in 2026 of 0.8 per cent of GDP, a government forecast showed.
While Denmark is among the biggest contributors of military aid and equipment to Ukraine relative to the size of its economy, the aid has depleted its own ground forces that lack hardware, ammunition and staff.
The long period of downsizing of domestic forces means Denmark has no air defences and significant shortcomings in its naval capabilities, military experts and government officials have said.
