Europe wakes up: Calls for defense boost after russian spending
Russia spends more on armaments than the rest of Europe combined, warned the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday in the European Parliament. However, she added that during last week's summit, an unprecedented consensus on defense was reached.
During the European Parliament debate on defense, von der Leyen highlighted that after the Cold War, some had expected Russia to be integrated into Europe's economic and security framework, while others assumed that long-term reliance on American protection would be possible.
And so, we lowered our guard. We cut our defence spending from routinely averaging more than 3.5% to less than half of that, she said.
The head of the European Commission added that we enjoyed a "peace dividend." - But in reality, we were just running a security deficit. The time of illusions is now over - she declared.
Russia is rearming
Von der Leyen cautioned that Russia's military expenditure surpasses the EU's. She pointed out that, in real terms, the Kremlin's spending exceeds the combined military budgets of all European countries, while Europe's defense production remains at a lower level.
As the President of the European Commission emphasized, this goal underlies her plan to rearm the EU, which she presented to the leaders of the 27 member states at the summit in Brussels on March 6.
She explained that the strategy is straightforward: The goal is to strengthen and accelerate defense production by utilizing all available financial mechanisms, potentially mobilizing up to €800 billion.
The head of the European Commission added that at the summit, she saw a consensus among leaders on defense that is not only unprecedented but "completely unthinkable just a few weeks ago."
