EU military spending is set to hit a fresh record of 381 billion euros in 2025, as countries plough more money into warding off Russia, the bloc’s defence agency said Tuesday.
The 10-per cent rise comes as European members of NATO have committed to massively ramp up spending under pressure from US President Donald Trump.
“Europe is spending record amounts on defence to keep our people safe, and we will not stop there,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) said that of the money being spent this year, close to 130 billion euros was being spent on investments such as new weaponry.
European countries have stepped up spending sharply since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
A 150-billion-euro EU loan scheme intended to help countries ramp up defence spending has been fully subscribed, the European Commission said last week, with 19 of 27 member states applying for funds.
The SAFE plan enables member states to get cheaper loans backed by the EU’s central budget.
Numerous Western militaries and intelligence services have warned that Moscow could be ready to attack a NATO country within three to five years if the war in Ukraine ends.
But the return of Trump — who has long railed against the continent for underspending — to power this year has given Europe a fresh shove.
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The mercurial US leader extracted a commitment from NATO allies to cough up five percent of their GDPs on security-related spending at a summit in July.
That headline figure breaks down as 3.5 per cent on core defence spending and 1.5 per cent on a broader range of areas such as infrastructure and cyber security.
“Meeting the new NATO target of 3.5 per cent of GDP will require even more effort, spending a total of more than 630 billion euros a year,” EDA head Andre Denk said.
AFP
