Budget Battle: Do Europe’s armies need more money?

CGTN Europe

European leaders are scrambling to find more money for defense.  They met on Thursday, just days after the United States suspended aid to Ukraine. Europe may now have to flex some military muscle.   But that might be easier said than done…   #ukraine #europe #russia #defense

Transcript

00:00So, why is Europe rushing to arm itself?

00:03Let's look at its budgets, specifically its defense budgets.

00:08We'll start with 2014, the year the conflict between Ukraine and Russia first broke out.

00:14EU states should have spent $314 billion on defense.

00:18That's if they followed NATO's guidelines.

00:21This is what they actually spent, $195 billion, less than two-thirds of that target.

00:28Now, Donald Trump called for more defense spending in his first term as US president.

00:33It seems that had an impact, but there was still a gap.

00:36By 2022, NATO guidelines called for nearly $362 billion.

00:42EU members spent $272 billion.

00:47Much of that spending, directly or indirectly, has gone towards support for Ukraine.

00:51And that's one of the reasons that line is starting to spike.

00:56EU countries spent nearly $350 billion on defense last year.

01:01The target was roughly $370 billion.

01:05Again, that's if they followed NATO's advice.

01:08So, what does all that mean?

01:10Well, EU states spent 1.9% of GDP, just short of NATO's 2% target.

01:17So, we've seen progress, but it's uneven.

01:20Poland spent over 4% of its GDP on defense last year.

01:24That's a bigger proportion than anyone else in the alliance.

01:27Germany is Europe's largest economy.

01:29It spent 2.1%.

01:32So, just above that target set by NATO.

01:34And then you have Spain with just under 1.3%.

01:39So, what's going on here?

01:41Well, this could be a factor.

01:43Poland shares a border with Ukraine, while Spain is 4,000 kilometers from the front line.

01:51Different countries approach the issue in different ways.

01:53And that's the challenge facing European states.

01:56In the past, they could count on the US to fill any gaps.

01:59But Trump says he's no longer willing to underwrite those shortfalls.

02:02The bottom line, Europe will have to reassess its priorities when it comes to spending.

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