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Romanian president: Government short-changing defence budget

BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s president is criticizing the government for devoting too little money to defence in the proposed budget for 2017, saying national security needs to be a priority.

President Klaus Iohannis said Thursday in a letter to Premier Sorin Grindeanu that the government should respect a cross-party commitment to spend 2 per cent of the gross domestic product on defence.

Iohannis says a draft budget due Friday shows the government plans to allocate 1.5 per cent of the GDP to the defence ministry.

Romania’s president is in charge of national security. Iohannis says reducing security spending would be “a grave error.”

There was no immediate reaction from the government.

NATO has asked member countries to spend 2 per cent on defence, although many spend less.

Iohannis is a critic of the centre-left government.

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