Renzi moots taking defense spending out of EU budget rules

(ANSA) - Rome, September 5 - Defense spending shouldn't be included in European Stability Pact limits if Western leaders think it a strategic priority, Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday after NATO called on members to up their defense spending to 2% of GDP. "After I made that suggestion, some of the other leaders called me a 'provocateur'," Renzi told reporters at a news briefing at the close of a two-day NATO summit in Newport, Wales. "I also said I would like to have a common EU defense policy and a forum in which to discuss it," Renzi said.