Course towards independence from the US: Europe plans to double defense spending

Over the next 10 years, Europe will double its defense spending to reduce its dependence on the United States.

This was reported in The New York Times.

Europe plans to increase defense spending by about 14 trillion euros. However, it is noted that European countries do not have analogues to American weapons. For example, F-35 fighters and Patriot air defense systems.

There are also tensions within some countries over increased defense spending.

The EU already has restrictions on the amount of money that can be spent on the purchase of American equipment, including a €150 billion defense loan program.

The issue of defense spending in Europe has become even more pressing after the reduction of American support for Ukraine.

Against this background, two main positions have formed in Europe:

• French – directing European funds exclusively to support its own defense production in order to avoid excessive dependence on the United States.
• Northern European – spending funds in a less protectionist way, with an emphasis on urgent assistance to Ukraine.

Guntram Wolf, a senior fellow at Bruegel and professor at the Free University of Brussels, also emphasizes that military dependence on the United States is a risk factor. Europe must abandon its technological attachment to the United States, although this will be a long process and may take at least five years.

As a reminder, the US authorities suspended the delivery of another package of weapons to Ukraine , citing possible risks of depletion of its own arsenals. At the same time, an analysis conducted by the Pentagon’s Joint Staff showed that providing assistance to Ukraine does not jeopardize the defense capability of the US Armed Forces.

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