NATO Allies approved the Alliance’s common-funded budgets for 2026 during a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, setting the Civil Budget at €528.2 million and the Military Budget at €2.42 billion. The decision comes as Allied defence expenditure continues to rise both nationally and through shared NATO programmes.
Common funding is separate from national defence budgets and is used for requirements that benefit the Alliance as a whole. NATO said the 2026 budgets will support military adaptation, interoperability, crisis prevention and management, cooperative security and the integrated NATO Command Structure.
The Military Budget will also support NATO-led training and exercises, Alliance operations and missions and capacity-building assistance to partners. The Civil Budget will finance NATO Headquarters activities and the consultation and decision-making processes used by member states.
NATO presented the agreement as both a practical investment in readiness and a visible political expression of burden-sharing among Allies. The funding framework is intended to support collective capabilities that individual member states would not efficiently provide on their own.