European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted, so Europe must strengthen its military capabilities.
“Putin has proven again and again that he is a hostile neighbour. He cannot be trusted, he can only be contained. And we know that the Russian military complex is superior to ours. If we look at military spending in real terms, the Kremlin spends more than all of Europe combined. European production is still at a lower level. And beyond the traditional capabilities, the range of threats we face is getting wider every day,” she told a European Parliament debate.
She said the European Parliament has been arguing for years that Europe must do more – and has been absolutely right.
“In this more dangerous era, Europe must step up. And that is the aim of the plan I presented to leaders last week. Its logic is simple: we want to use all the financial levers we have to strengthen and accelerate our defence production. With the ‘rearm Europe’ plan, we can mobilise up to 800 billion euros,” von der Leyen added.
EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on March 6 approved plans to sharply increase military spending after the US presidential administration signalled that Europe would have to rely on its own forces for future defence.
EU states approved the relaxation of budgetary restrictions that allow for increased military spending. The European Commission estimates that 650 billion euros could be freed up in this way.
The summit participants also adopted the European Commission’s proposal for a 150 billion euro loan fund for EU countries to further invest in defence.