On Wednesday 18 June, many representatives of political groups in the European Parliament gave their support to the increase in defence spending that is due to be approved at the NATO summit on 24 and 25 June in The Hague, while warning that this should not be allowed to lead to cuts in social spending.
“We must pursue the objective of increasing defence spending, but this must not be at the expense of the welfare state or cohesion”, explained Yannis Maniatis (S&D, Greek).
Similarly, Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Dutch) highlighted the need for a “real European approach and [a] European fund to boost investment in security, based on joint borrowing, and to ensure that Member States benefit from the exception to the fiscal rules linked to defence, the only way to ensure that they do not restrict spending on health and social systems through destructive austerity measures”. “You can spend all you want on arms and tanks, but Europe will only be strong if it has the support of the people”, he explained.
Marc Botenga (The Left, Belgian) went even further, arguing that NATO was already spending eight times as much as Russia on armaments and that the increase in defence budgets was “not for defence, but for attack”. “I don’t want to sacrifice our people and our social security on the altar of war”, he warned. Similarly, Harald Vilimsky (PfE, Austrian) felt that spending more and more on armaments was a “mistake”.
Other MEPs stressed the importance of rebalancing the sharing of expenditure with the United States. “Deterrence is peace. For decades, Europe has subcontracted this to the United States [...] Burden-sharing can no longer remain on paper, but must become a reality. Not to please Trump, but for our independence and security”, explained Valérie Hayer (Renew Europe, French).
Nicolás Pascual de la Parte (EPP, Spanish) pointed out that defence funding was not just a matter of figures, but that we needed to “know what the main risks and threats are and what capabilities we need to deal with them”. He felt that we needed a connection with the Americans and to extend the Atlantic Alliance to a number of countries around the world in order to have a global NATO.
At its summit on 26 June, the day after the NATO summit, the European Council is expected, according to draft conclusions obtained by Agence Europe on 16 June, to stress the need to continue to “substantially increase” spending on Europe’s security and defence, including, for those Member States that are also Allies, the commitments that could be made at The Hague, and to invite these States to coordinate among themselves the implementation of the commitments made at NATO concerning defence investment.
To see the draft conclusions, go to https://aeur.eu/f/hd0 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)