EU Defence Spending
christian.diet…
Thu, 10/08/2026 – 10:45
18 minutes
Introduction
Defence budgets across Europe are rising. Russia’s war on Ukraine, combined with doubts over the future of US security guarantees, have prompted European governments to invest more in defence. According to EUISS calculations based on EDA and NATO data, spending by EU Member States was 56% higher in 2025 than it was in 2022, after accounting for inflation.
One challenge is sustaining and increasing this spending. Rebuilding Europe’s military capacity will require investment over many years. Yet many national budgets are under pressure from fiscal constraints, higher borrowing costs and competing domestic priorities.
Europeans also need to spend more cooperatively to reduce costs and secure economies of scale. The feasibility of cooperation is influenced by many factors, including national threat perceptions, operational cultures, defence planning cycles and national industrial interests, but well-designed financial incentives can make cooperation more attractive.
A second challenge is mobilising the investment needed for Europe’s broader defence ramp-up, in terms of expanding industrial capacity, investing in R&D and making European infrastructure more resilient …read more