- cross-posted to:
- buyeuropean@feddit.uk
- cross-posted to:
- buyeuropean@feddit.uk
Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.08-050706/https://www.ft.com/content/76937db3-0b3b-44d4-9005-9709512acd53
A proposed €150bn injection into the EU’s defence industry has become a new flashpoint in a long-standing battle between France and Germany over the continent’s rearmament drive and whether it should include countries outside the bloc.
Spooked by US President Donald Trump’s threats to end generations of American protection, Europe has pledged to increase defence spending dramatically and scale up their domestic capabilities that have withered since the cold war.
Last week the European Commission proposed to raise €150bn that would be lent to capitals to boost their military production. While the broad idea has received unanimous political backing, the details are still being fleshed out, with heavy lobbying over whether the cash could be spent on arms made outside the bloc.
That’s my hope but that’s assuming there will be demand and Germany can become competitive again. Right now those industries are failing because of expensive energy and that’s not about to change. In fact, it might get worse because Europe is getting LNG from the US now, and they’re not exactly friendly.
I thought the energy prices came down significantly since the gas crisis in Germany?
Prices spiked then stabilised but remained at much higher levels than before. Russian gas was really cheap because of multiple factors and couldn’t be replaced without cost.
Energy is energy. Raising the renewable sources enough could lead to not needing that much oil or gas.
Yeah, energy source can be replaced but it’s boring reality that bites you in the butt. Chemical plants need natural gas and aren’t really able to switch as they’d have to engineer loads of things from scratch. Then things like tires and o-rings get really expensive and so on and so on.