European defence unity in face of Russian military surge
Russia spends more on armaments than the rest of Europe combined, warned the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday in the European Parliament. However, she added that during last week's summit, an unprecedented consensus on defence was reached.
During the European Parliament's defence debate, von der Leyen emphasised that after the end of the Cold War, "some believed that Russia could be integrated into the European economic and security architecture," while others "hoped we could indefinitely rely on America's protection."
And so, we lowered our guard. We cut our defence spending from routinely averaging more than 3.5% to less than half of that, she said.
The head of the European Commission added that we enjoyed a "peace dividend." - But in reality, we were just running a security deficit. The time of illusions is now over - she declared.
Russia is rearming
Von der Leyen warned that Russia spends more on armaments than the EU. - If we look at military spending in real terms, the Kremlin spends more than all of Europe combined. Europe's production is still at a lower level - she assessed.
As the President of the European Commission emphasised, this goal underlies her plan to rearm the EU, which she presented to the leaders of the 27 member states at the summit in Brussels on 6 March.
She explained the straightforward approach: The goal is to utilize all available financial mechanisms to enhance and speed up defense production, potentially mobilizing up to €800 billion.
The head of the European Commission added that at the summit, she saw a consensus among leaders on defence, which is not only unprecedented but "was completely unthinkable just a few weeks ago."
