Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta | Stringer/AFP via Getty Images Italy seeks changes to NATO defense spending rules ‘Spending money to develop cybersecurity defenses should count the same as spending money to buy tanks,’ defense minister says.

Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta called Monday for NATO's national budget spending rules to be amended to include cybersecurity and infrastructure costs.

Trenta, a member of the ruling 5Star coalition group, said that NATO guidelines requiring member countries to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense should also include non-military investments, as Italy sets out to spend more on social welfare, the Financial Times reported.

“There are parts of our spending that are related to defense but are not in the defense budget,” Trenta told the newspaper ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.

“Spending money to develop cybersecurity defenses should count the same as spending money to buy tanks ... I am not saying we should not spend money, but that we should spend money on things that were not previously considered as defense spending,” she said.

A lukewarm response to Trenta's comments is expected from the Trump administration, which calls for NATO members to increase their defense budgets to meet the 2 percent target.

In 2018, 1.15 percent of Italy's GDP was spent on defense, according to NATO's estimates, ranking the country as the seventh lowest contributor of the 29 member states as a proportion of its economy.

Italy has lowered the national retirement threshold and has increased government spending since its ruling coalition was formed, triggering a budget deadlock with Brussels last year.

Trenta insisted that the 5Star Movement's flagship social spending programs do not clash with Rome's defense spending.

“I do not believe that there is a hierarchy between military spending and welfare spending,” the minister said.

“At this time, with the problem of unemployment and very low growth in Italy, it is necessary to push harder to restart the economy. But we are talking about this moment. Next year could be very different."