Three times as much money for armaments as Putin - and still no security?

EU facing major tasks

Created: 2022-11-20 21:04

EU Foreign Affairs and Security Officer Josep Borrell.

© Uncredited/AP/dpa

Despite high spending, the EU faces a military problem.

Alignment and Joint Task Force: Member States disagree on many issues.

Brussels – Europe is doing too little and too late: this is what people in Brussels keep saying when they talk about the defense capability and “strategic sovereignty of Europe”, which the federal government wants to improve according to the coalition agreement.

The escalated Ukraine conflict and the changed political situation in the USA after the midterm elections should be a "wake-up call", say politicians and experts alike.

And not just because Donald Trump wants to know it again in the next presidential election.

"We must be ready for tomorrow's war, not yesterday's," warned EU foreign and security chief Josep Borrell after a defense ministers' meeting in Brussels this week.

For as dependent as Europe was on Russian gas, it is militarily dependent on the United States.

"We have to be attractive partners for the USA and not needy ones," says the CDU MEP Michael Gahler.

EU defense spending: "We're wasting money"

Armaments cooperation is a problem: the European Union wants to invest at least 35 percent of its defense spending in joint armaments projects.

According to Borrell, it is currently only around half at 18 percent.

"That's not enough," criticizes the security officer.

“The EU countries spend more than three times as much on their defense as Russia.

(...) But more money does not automatically mean more security”

The SPD EU parliamentarian Joachim Schuster sees deeper problems in the EU defense policy.

"We're wasting money," complains European Parliamentarian Joachim Schuster (SPD).

"The EU countries spend more than three times as much on their defense as Russia," he emphasizes.

"But more money doesn't automatically mean more security." There is too much EU small-stateism with consideration for the national armaments industries and too much bureaucracy, according to Brussels.

The CDU man Gahler fears that there is a similar threat with the special fund for the Bundeswehr of 100 billion euros.

EU defense spending: "Huge gap between EU aspirations and reality"

A second example is the planned "rapid reaction force": From 2025, the EU wants to have up to 5,000 soldiers ready for crisis operations.

Far too few, say critics.

However, this troop must then at least be "equipped with the best equipment," demands Gahler.

Decisions are still pending.

The Europeans are also lacking strategically: "There is a huge gap between the EU's geopolitical claims and reality," says Marta Mucznik, the foreign expert at the Brussels think tank European Policy Center (EPC).

Three years ago, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her first keynote speech that the EU had to learn “the language of power”.

Geopolitical situation in the EU: member states at odds over goals

So far there has been little sign of this, says the EPC expert.

The fundamental dispute as to where exactly the EU wants to go has not been resolved: the Baltic states and Poland in particular consider the USA and NATO to be indispensable as security guarantors.

French President Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, is pushing for “strategic autonomy” for Europeans.

Both sides justify this with the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

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"The Europeans have to take care of the crises in their neighborhood themselves," says Mucznik.

Because the USA, even under President Joe Biden, was increasingly looking at its competitor China and the Indo-Pacific region.

In Washington, the question is also getting louder: "Why are the rich Europeans so dependent on us?" says the foreign expert.