Wars may force budget alterations
The defence minister says the current budget allocations to the military are not enough to support its continued participation in Afghanistan and Iraq Denmark will not be able to station a planned 650 additional soldiers for missions abroad under the...
Søren Gade, the defence minister, is therefore requesting the government increase its contributions to the military by an extra 0.7 percent of the country's GNP. That figure would bring Denmark's defence budget in line with Nato's demands of a 2.0 percent GNP military expense allotment for member states.
Gade expressed his concerns to Berlingske Tidende newspaper, saying the lack of funding hurt both Denmark's reputation within Nato and the ability to ensure the safety of Danish troops abroad.
'When we participate in operations in Afghanistan we need to have the necessary materials available to our soldiers,' said Gade. 'Their families, loved ones and the soldiers themselves expect that.'
Denmark allocates approximately 20 billion kroner annually to its defence. The US had proposed that Nato member countries currently under the 2 percent proposal should at minimum increase their military contributions by 0.2 percent of their GNP.
The only party to give its immediate backing to the additional funding was the nationalist Danish People's Party. The left-of-centre Socialist People's Party refuses to support the proposal.
'There are a lot of other groups in our society that need the money - the elderly, patients and the police,' said Holger K. Nielsen, the party's defence spokesman.
There are currently around 1300 Danish troops on missions abroad, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan.