BRUSSELS: European Union leaders are now in agreement that the EU must be fully capable of defending itself against a Russian attack by 2030, despite earlier resistance to the deadline from some countries, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.
Europe is dramatically stepping up spending on defense because of concern that the United States, which had guaranteed Europe’s security since the end of World War Two, was no longer keen to do so, shifting its attention to the Indo-Pacific.
But not all EU countries are equally committed to higher defense spending, especially those geographically further from Russia.
Speaking after a summit of EU leaders that discussed the EU plan to step up defense readiness, Tusk said countries now spending less than others on defense had been reluctant to accept the five-year scheme proposed by the European Commission.
“Behind the scenes... it stirred some emotions. Especially in countries that spend little on defense now. There are several large countries that still spend very little. And they don’t want to spend more. For now,” Tusk told a press conference.
NATO member Spain spent 1.28 percent of GDP on defense in 2024 and Italy spent 1.49 percent, falling well short of the agreed NATO target of 2 percent of GDP, despite three years of war in Ukraine and US pressure to further raise the NATO defense spending target.
Slovenia, Belgium and Portugal also spend between 1.29 percent and 1.55 percent of GDP on defense. Italy plans to increase military spending to 1.6 percent of GDP in 2027, while Spain wants to reach NATO’s spending target of 2 percent of GDP only before 2029.
“Our position, shared with Denmark and Sweden, was that the more Russia has the advantage today, the more we have to hurry. We finally accepted, as the European Council, this commitment that by 2030 Europe must obtain full defense capabilities,” Tusk said. “By 2030 Europe must be, in terms of army, weapons, technology, clearly stronger than Russia. And it will be.”
Tusk said the five-year deadline corresponded to analysis by NATO head Mark Rutte that this was the amount of time Europe had before Russia rebuilt its offensive capabilities, after losses suffered in Ukraine, sufficiently to be ready to attack Europe.
He made clear this did not mean Europe expected an attack by Russia in 2030.
“It is key that Europe be really capable to defend itself and deter Putin,” Tusk said. “Or, it is less about defending and more about showing through facts, decisions, that Putin’s Russia does not stand a chance against Europe that is united and well-armed. It is the only effective method to avoid a war.”
EU agrees five-year deadline to boost defenses against Russia, says Polish PM
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EU agrees five-year deadline to boost defenses against Russia, says Polish PM
- Europe is dramatically stepping up spending on defense because of concern that the US was no longer keen to do so
- Tusk said countries now spending less than others on defense had been reluctant to accept the five-year scheme proposed by the European Commission
European leaders expected to cement support for Ukraine amid Washington pressure to accept deal
- After Sunday’s talks in Berlin between U.S. envoys and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian and European officials are set to continue a series of meetings
BERLIN: European leaders are expected to cement support for Ukraine Monday as it faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal.
After Sunday’s talks in Berlin between U.S. envoys and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian and European officials are set to continue a series of meetings in an effort to secure the continent’s peace and security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia.
Zelenskyy sat down Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the German federal chancellery in the hopes of bringing the nearly four-year war to a close.
Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.
Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control among the key conditions for peace.
The Russian president also has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.
Zelenskyy emphasized that any Western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress.
‘Pax Americana’ is over
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”
He warned that Putin’s aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.”
“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned during a party conference in Munich.
Macron, meanwhile, vowed Sunday on social platform X that “France is, and will remain, at Ukraine’s side to build a robust and lasting peace — one that can guarantee Ukraine’s security and sovereignty, and that of Europe, over the long term.”
Putin has denied plans to attack any European allies.
