The European Parliament is demanding that European Union countries make large and urgent investments in defense. Currently, on average, EU countries spend about 2% of GDP, but they want to increase this figure.
This was stated by European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius in an interview with Babel.
Thanks to the ReArm Europe defense industry financing plan announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU member states will be able to increase their defense spending to 3.5%.
The NATO summit will be held in June 2025, and similar figures may be approved there — it is NATO that sets the minimum spending for the Alliance countries. Some EU countries are already spending more than 4%, some are setting a target of 5%. This is a voluntary decision, and this is very important, Kubilius notes.
The European Commissioner notes that the needs of EU member states are also important: what is the size of the armed forces, what equipment national armies should have in order to be ready to implement the so-called NATO defense plans. These indicators should be approved at the NATO summit in June.
"Based on them, we will form a plan: what our industries should produce, how much it will cost. Then we will know better how much we need to invest [in joint defense]," Kubilius noted.
One of the main problems of European defense today is the fragmentation of the market. Different countries have their own tanks and artillery, they are not unified. To speed up and reduce the cost of production, some parts should be brought to a single standard.
- In early March 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented a new EU defense plan. It envisages mobilizing €800 billion to strengthen the bloc’s military capabilities. EU leaders have already endorsed the plan.
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