Increased defense spending in Europe raises concerns and fears

Department of Research, Studies and International News 06-03-2025

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal on Tuesday to mobilize some 800 billion euros ($853 billion) to boost the European Union’s defense spending has received a mixed response in Europe.

The plan was made shortly after United States President Donald Trump announced a halt in US military aid to Ukraine.

“We are living in the most momentous and dangerous of times,” von der Leyen said.

“We are in an era of rearmament. And Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending, both to respond to the short-term urgency to act and to support Ukraine, but also to address the long-term need to take on more responsibility for our own European security.”

The five points von der Leyen laid out were detailed in a letter she sent to leaders of the 27 EU member states who will meet in Brussels for an extraordinary summit on Thursday. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to attend the meeting.

These points include a “new instrument” to provide 150 billion euros ($160 billion) in loans to member states to finance joint defense investment in pan-European capability domains.

“This is basically about spending better — and spending together,” von der Leyen said.

She said that if EU member states raise their defense spending by 1.5 percent of GDP on average, it could come up to $694 billion in the next four years.

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis voiced his support for the proposal.

“I welcome President @vonderleyen’s REARM Europe plan as a significant step toward strengthening our collective European security. We must now work out the details to ensure that all member states benefit, regardless of their current defense spending,” he wrote on X.

In Germany, the most likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a new 500 billion euros ($534 billion) plan to boost defense and infrastructure.

Merz announced on Tuesday that his Christian Democratic Union — which together with ally Christian Social Union and likely coalition, the Social Democrats — will present a joint bill in parliament next week to ease the country’s debt brake.

“I want to say that very clearly in view of the threats to our freedom and peace on our continent, our defense must now apply ‘whatever it takes’,” he told a news conference in Berlin with leaders of Christian Social Union and Social Democratic Party.

“Don’t look now, but Europe is now preparing for war with Russia,” Patrick Henningsen, a geopolitical analyst in the United Kingdom, commented on the “ReArm Europe” plan on X.

EU leaders have sharp differences in the defense funding. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico have threatened to veto any call for increased military assistance to Ukraine.

Carlos Martinez, a London-based commentator, described people such as von der Leyen as “deeply, deeply cynical”.

“And they must think we are stupid,” he wrote on X.

“No. Europe must not urgently rearm. Europe is not under any military threat,” he said, adding Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has very limited and well-defined aims related to ensuring Russia’s own security in the face of an increasingly aggressive NATO.

Dave Keating, a Brussels-based commentator, said, “The name of today’s EU package — #RearmEurope — does beg the question of why the hell Europeans allowed their naive belief in America to cause them to Disarm Europe in the first place.”