Overview
Crosetto's policy priorities are consistent across his political and ministerial career, reflecting both his industry background at AIAD and his political convictions as a founding member of Fratelli d'Italia. The underlying logic is that Italy must maintain credible armed forces as a prerequisite for the diplomatic weight it seeks to exercise in NATO, the EU, and the Mediterranean.
His priorities draw on four structural realities: Italy's obligations as a founding NATO member; its geographic position as a Mediterranean state; the defence industrial base — Leonardo, Fincantieri, MBDA Italy, Iveco Defence, Elettronica — that employs tens of thousands; and the welfare of roughly 170,000 armed forces personnel. The security environment since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has given urgency to priorities that were already held before he became minister.
The Seven Priorities
1Defence Investment
Italy has historically spent approximately 1.4–1.5% of GDP on defence, well below the NATO 2% target reaffirmed at the Wales Summit in 2014. Crosetto has been a consistent advocate for reaching that target through an incremental trajectory. His argument is direct: Italy cannot credibly claim NATO collective defence benefits while systematically underinvesting relative to the commitment; free-riding is corrosive to alliance solidarity and Italy's diplomatic credibility.
The security environment — Russia's aggression, instability across the Mediterranean neighbourhood — makes adequate investment an urgent strategic necessity, not an abstract political commitment. Domestic political opposition has been significant: PD, M5S and AVS have consistently challenged defence budget increases on social spending grounds. Under the Meloni government, the defence budget has followed an upward trajectory, though the timeline to reaching 2% depends on broader budget constraints.
2Military Modernisation
21st-century threats require updated capabilities. Legacy equipment replacement is a priority across all three services: the Aeronautica Militare's Typhoon/Eurofighter fleet is being upgraded; the Marina Militare's PPA (Pattugliatore Polivalente d'Altura) programme is delivering new offshore patrol vessels to replace ageing ships; army modernisation includes armoured vehicles and artillery. Crosetto has consistently emphasised emerging capabilities — cyber defence, space infrastructure, and unmanned systems — as areas where investment is essential to remain strategically relevant.
GCAP (Global Combat Air Programme with the UK and Japan) is the flagship modernisation programme — Italy's commitment to a sixth-generation fighter signed in December 2022. Crosetto's argument: modernisation is about maintaining strategic effectiveness in the face of evolving threats, not simply meeting spending targets. A force equipped with Cold War-era platforms cannot fulfil 21st-century missions regardless of manpower levels.
3Industrial Development
Italy has one of Europe's most significant defence industrial bases. Key firms include Leonardo (ranked among the global top-ten defence companies; systems integrator, helicopters, electronics, cyber), Fincantieri (warships, submarines, frigates), Iveco Defence (military vehicles), MBDA Italy (missiles, joint venture), and Elettronica (electronic warfare systems), alongside a broader ecosystem of aerospace and defence SMEs. Crosetto's decade as AIAD President (2013–2022) gives him direct knowledge of this industrial landscape.
His priorities encompass export competitiveness, dual-use technology development, GCAP as a flagship exportable platform, and keeping advanced manufacturing in Italy rather than seeing it acquired by non-allied entities. The industrial development priority is simultaneously an economic priority — employment, exports, innovation — and a strategic one: sovereign capability and allied industrial interdependence. Ensuring the sector's SME base has adequate access to MOD procurement is a specific concern he has articulated in parliamentary settings.
4Alliance Solidarity
NATO is Crosetto's foundational strategic framework — not as received wisdom but as a conviction about collective security. Alliances are effective only if members meet their obligations; an alliance of free-riders is no alliance at all. The Atlantismo tradition in Italian foreign policy is one that Crosetto embraces, but on terms that require Italy to fulfil its side of the bargain. EU defence cooperation is welcome within the Atlantic framework — not as a replacement for NATO but as European members taking greater collective responsibility.
Bilateral partnerships reflect the same conviction: UK on GCAP; US on interoperability and host-nation arrangements; France and Germany on European defence; Japan on GCAP and wider Indo-Pacific orientation. Italy's pro-Ukraine support is, in Crosetto's framework, an act of alliance solidarity as much as a specific Ukraine policy. An alliance that fails to defend a partner against illegal aggression forfeits its deterrence value for all members.
5Mediterranean Security
Italy's strategic neighbourhood is the Mediterranean. North African and Middle Eastern instability directly affects Italian security through irregular migration pressure, terrorism and organised crime flows, energy supply routes, and potential state collapse scenarios — Libya in particular. Italy has maintained a significant Mediterranean engagement: EUNAVFOR MED Irini (anti-trafficking, arms embargo enforcement), bilateral defence cooperation with Mediterranean partner countries, and active engagement on the Libya file.
Crosetto's position is that Mediterranean security is Italy's primary strategic responsibility in a way it is not for most other NATO members. Italy must be the advocate within NATO and the EU for the Southern flank receiving adequate attention alongside the Eastern flank. The Mattei Plan — the Meloni government's Africa engagement framework — has a security dimension that Crosetto supports as complementary to purely military approaches in Italy's near-abroad.
6Ukraine Support
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — eight months before Crosetto became minister — created the defining foreign policy challenge of his tenure. His position has been consistent: Russia's invasion is a violation of international law, the UN Charter, and the Budapest Memorandum; Ukrainian military defeat would fatally undermine the rules-based international order and embolden further aggression; Italy therefore has a strategic and moral imperative to support Ukraine's ability to defend itself.
Military assistance has been provided through successive legislative decrees (Decreti), each requiring parliamentary authorisation. Managing coalition tensions — particularly Lega's historically closer relationship with Russia — has been a documented feature of Italian coalition politics during his tenure. Public opinion has at times shown majority opposition to weapons transfers. Crosetto has consistently defended the policy in parliament and in public against opposition from M5S, parts of Lega, and left-wing parties.
7Personnel and Welfare
Italy's armed forces number approximately 170,000 personnel. Key welfare challenges include pay levels that have not kept pace with inflation or private sector alternatives; housing for military families in high-cost garrison cities; healthcare access; and the difficulty of recruiting and retaining the specialised skills that modern forces require. Cyber specialists, technicians, and engineers compete with the private sector for the same talent pool, and the military's relative compensation disadvantage is acute in precisely the fields where demand is highest.
Crosetto has been a vocal advocate for treating armed forces personnel with dignity and adequate compensation. He has framed personnel welfare as both a matter of justice — those who serve face unique risks and restrictions — and strategic readiness: under-strength and underpaid forces are less effective. The MOD's Welfare del Personale Militare framework encompasses these issues. Parliamentary debates on military pay and conditions have been a recurring feature of his ministerial tenure.