Italy’s proposal to bolster defence capabilities is to create a guarantee fund optimising the use of national and European resources with the objective of involving private capital more effectively, with limited public spending, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told an ECOFIN meeting Tuesday in Brussels.

The guarantee scheme could potentially raise investments worth up to 200 billion euros, Giorgetti said.

The draft plan, he explained, is of a “guarantee fund optimizing the use of national and European resources with the aim of conveying private capital in a more effective manner, with contained public expenditure”, said Giorgetti.

“A guarantee fund of about 16 billion euros will be able to mobilize up to 200 billion in additional industrial investments, in line with the best practices of InvestEU and first of the European fund for strategic investments”, he noted.

Earlier, Giorgetti said Italy will to do its part to bolster Europe’s defence, but not by sacrificing health care and other public services, according to a note issued by the economy ministry.