Europe needs to be ready to defend itself, not because of Trump’s victory in the US, but because of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the new commissioner for defence and space told MEPs during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
The EU must spend more, better, together and European, the future commissioner for defence and space told MEPs during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday evening.
“If we want to defend ourselves, we need to spend at least €10 billion up to 2028,” said former Lithuanian prime minister Andrius Kubilius (European People’s Party), who is set to become the bloc’s first ever defence commissioner.
But that’s not all: some €200 billion will be needed over the next decade to upgrade infrastructure so that military equipment and troops can be easily mobilised across the EU – and another €500 billion to build an EU air defence shield, Kubilius told MEPs.
“We need to spend more – but not because it is a demand of President Trump [who put pressure on NATO members to increase defence spending], but because of Putin,” the former Lithuanian prime minister added.
Kubilius is convinced that the real threat to the EU is Russian President Vladimir Putin, not Republican Donald Trump, who is set to become the 47th president of the United States.
“The way to convince Putin not to start another military campaign against EU member states is really to show that we’re able to defend ourselves,” Kubilius insisted.
But despite the increase in defence spending, seven out of 23 EU members of NATO still fail to meet the commitment to spend at least 2% of their GDP on this area – and the defence market is highly fragmented at national level.
The Commission estimates that €50 billion a year will be needed over the next decade to remain competitive in defence and space against global players such as the US and China.
But Kubilius stressed that if all EU members spent at least 2% of their GDP, an additional €60 billion a year could be raised. “From my point of view, it [the 2% target] is not enough,” he added, while stressing that it was up to NATO to discuss the situation.
On how to finance these new priorities and needs, the new commissioner avoided mentioning Eurobonds, but stressed that an increase in the next long-term EU budget would be needed to cover such ambitions.
“Without security and defence there will be nothing, no prosperity, no competitiveness,” he told MEPs in his closing remarks before being given the green light for the high-profile job.
The whole Ursula von der Leyen Commission 2.0 still has to be approved in plenary, probably during a session in Strasbourg at the end of November.
