On Friday 28 March, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas announced that in order to “replace US aid to Ukraine and maintain total support at the same level”, Europe would have to double its annual support “to an average level of 0.21% of GDP”.
“As far as military aid is concerned, replacing the United States, if necessary, would be more difficult, but would be possible in many areas”, added Ms Kallas on receiving the Henry Kissinger Prize from the American Academy in Berlin, echoing a report by the Kiel Institute.
According to the institute’s report, European industry has viable alternatives for almost all the main US heavy weapon systems given to Ukraine. “We should be more aware of our capabilities and what we could do, if we decided to do it”, added Ms Kallas. According to the institute, there is at present no substitute for American military intelligence.
European countries currently devote an average of just 0.1% of their gross domestic product (GDP) per year to bilateral aid to Ukraine. However, there are wide disparities, with Denmark already at more than 0.7% of its GDP. According to the institute, in absolute figures, this means an increase in European aid from €44 billion a year to €82 billion, i.e. from €16 billion to €36 billion for the European institutions, from €6 billion to at least €9 billion for Germany, from €1.5 billion to €6 billion for France and from €0.8 billion to €4.5 billion for Italy.
See the Kiel Institute report: https://aeur.eu/f/g67 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)