A European Council summit dedicated to defense and Ukraine is slated for Thursday; EU leaders are expected to discuss ways to fund increased military expenditures.
Macron also hinted that he would propose a new defense budget for France, despite lacking a parliamentary majority to pass it.
I don’t want my country to spend 3%, I want Europe to spend 3%. Together. An army. Spending individually is stupid. My country is not going to have a nuclear submarine or a complete aircraft carrier, Europe needs more than one
While that’s fine for a situation in which an European army existed, Orban would almost certainly veto such a proposal. In fact, he’d probably veto the EU spending a substantial amount together and call the EU warmongers. The solution is to have countries act independently on paper (with leadership coordinating) so that the EU doesn’t have to get involved in such a way that vetoes can block progress. That’s just the state of affairs at the moment.
While I agree that full integration under the EU-27 is impossible in practice, I do believe that something like monetary union would be possible. A two-speed union where those who are prepared are quickly integrated and those who do not want to are left out, still covered by the article 42 of the Lisbon Treaty, but without common forces based on its territory, that could make the difference between repelling an invasion or being released later, so there would still be strong incentives to want to enter.
I am aware that it is also politically complex, but I do not see it as impossible with the current climate.
I’m not European but I am quite aware of the situation with Orban. What do you think would happen if, let’s say, UK, France, and Norway decided to build a top of the line nuclear powered aircraft carrier together?
They’d be able to help secure Europe, could get some sales to EU countries and such, but I see this as a project that would deal directly with established armies (and countries’ defence budgets) rather than going through the EU.
Think global; build local!
As long as leaders like Trump and Putin exist, countries are going to need defense. It would be better for the EU if they were able to supply their defense needs without having to buy from the US.
Rare occasion I like anything he has to say. Europe needs to stop relying on treaty protection. I don’t expect any of our long standing treaties to survive the century, even the decade looks bleak.
Call me when a country without an advance military industrial complex calls for more spending on weapons.
Poland did it last week. The Polish military industry certainly isn’t nothing, but it’s less than a tenth of the French one in terms of volume of exports and even that is the result of recent growth
True ! But I think they are already spending about 5% themselves ?
Closer to 4% in the past couple of years but expected to rise to 4.7% this year, I believe. But still very high compared to the rest of Europe. I brought them up, though, because they were calling for the rest of Europe to spend more as well, rather than just saying that they would do it themselves, so to me it seems more directly relevant to your original comment
