Funding weapons together (or not): How to pay for European defence
fanny.pollet@i…
Wed, 01/22/2025 – 14:50
10 minutes
Three years into Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU and its Member States are undertaking the largest rearmament effort since the 1950s. Defence budgets are up across Europe, armaments factories are expanding, and new ones are being built. At the same time, US President Donald Trump is openly questioning core tenets of the transatlantic alliance and demanding much higher European defence spending. With threats mounting on all fronts, two things are clear: European countries need to take more responsibility for their own security, and this will require substantial funding. According to the European Commission, Europe requires an additional €500 billion in defence investments over the next decade, while Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius wants €100 billion to be allocated to defence in the EU’s 2028-2034 budget (1). The urgent question is what the EU can and should do in this new setting.
This Brief examines the question of how to fund European defence. Less …read more
