Poland wants to double the number of its soldiers, Finland is strengthening its air defenses. Greece and Italy buy new weapons for billions of euros. And countries like Greece and Poland are already demanding that defense spending no longer be included in the EU’s upper deficit limits.
An overview of a continent in rearmament.
Poland, in the immediate vicinity of Ukraine, intends to spend three percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on armaments in the coming year. The largest Eastern European EU member state had already met NATO’s two percent target.
In October, the “Law for the Defense of the Fatherland” provided for an increase in military spending to 2.5 percent from 2024 onwards. The sum is now significantly increased. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the bill would also increase the number of Polish soldiers from 143,500 to 300,000 within five years.
In the future, Poland will “have one of the strongest armies in NATO,” said Blaszczak. “Our fatherland needs such a Polish army, especially now that the evil empire is trying to be reborn on our eastern border.” Poland had always warned of Russian aggression and called for significantly tougher action against Moscow.
Poland wants to expand its army in the shortest possible time.
(Photo: dpa)
To finance defense spending, the state development bank BGK is to issue state-backed bonds in addition to ordinary government bonds. Funds from the state budget and profits from the central bank could also be added.
Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski recently asked the EU Commission not to include military spending in the budget deficit. With the new plans from Brussels, Poland will not be able to meet the target of a maximum budget deficit of three percent.
Greece is upgrading billions
New warships, fighter jets and helicopters, modern torpedoes and tanks: Greece has launched the largest armament program in its recent history. Last year, the country spent 3.8 percent of GDP on the defense budget, leading the alliance and even surpassing the United States (3.52 percent).
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis does not only have the increasingly aggressive neighbor Turkey in mind when it comes to the arms program. He also wants to strengthen Greece’s role as a bastion on NATO’s south-eastern flank.
Mitsotakis is also a staunch supporter of a common EU defense policy. Russia’s war against Ukraine is encouraging Greece in these efforts, Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said in an interview.
This year, the budget for the procurement of new and the modernization of existing weapon systems is to increase from 2.5 to 3.36 billion euros. The government ordered 24 Rafale fighter jets from the French manufacturer Dassault. In mid-February, Parliament approved the procurement of three French Belharra frigates.
Greece is also negotiating the purchase of five corvettes. In the USA, the country has ordered modern MH-60R helicopters for its navy, and 84 older US F-16 fighter jets are being modernized. Athens is also negotiating an order for the F-35 stealth jet.
Greece is upgrading its submarines with 44 modern torpedoes from the German manufacturer Rheinmetall. The approximately 700 Leopard tanks in the Greek army are also to be modernized. The Ministry of Defense is also in talks with the manufacturer Krauss Maffei Wegman about setting up an assembly line in the country.
The programs cost money: the Rafale procurement alone costs 2.3 billion euros. Over three billion are due for the frigates. The Leopard modernization is estimated at another billion. High military spending was one of the causes of the Greek sovereign debt crisis. Finance Minister Christos Staikouras assures that this should not happen again
But the rearmament is becoming a tour de force for the heavily indebted country. As in Poland, efforts are therefore being made behind the scenes not to include armaments expenditure in the budget deficit.
Stronger anti-aircraft defenses in Finland
Across northern Europe, politicians are outdoing each other with announcements of increased military spending. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced earlier this week that NATO’s military spending would more than double to EUR 2.3 billion in the next two years. The defense budget is to be increased from the current 1.5 percent of GDP to 2 percent from 2033.
An increase is also being discussed in Finland and Sweden. However, a final decision has not yet been made in the two non-aligned countries. Nevertheless, there is a parliamentary majority in Sweden for an increase in the defense budget from the current 1.5 to 2 percent of GDP.
Read here: Finland and Sweden: NATO accession is no longer a taboo subject
Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen announced the significant strengthening of the air defense. The country with a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with Russia is one of the European countries that spends the most on its defense. The defense budget amounts to 5.1 billion euros – almost two percent of GDP.
Despite their already relatively high defense spending – Estonia and Latvia each invest 2.3 percent, Lithuania 2.1 percent of their economic output – the three Baltic countries have announced further increases in their military budgets.
Spending record in Italy
Italy wants to increase the annual defense budget by up to 10 billion euros by 2027. In this way, NATO’s two percent target should be met as quickly as possible.
So far, the country is with 1.4 percent at the bottom of NATO. Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said that “the current context requires that we do more, not only on a financial level, but also on the renewal of military equipment”.
2022 will be a record year with almost 26 billion euros for military spending. Eight billion euros of this alone will be invested in new weapon systems. Among other things, Italy wants to order six Tempest stealth jets from the British manufacturer BAE Systems.
The government in Rome is planning enormous expenditures for military rearmament.
(Photo: AP)
There are also euro drones and aerial refueling systems. Rome wants to order Aster anti-aircraft missiles, which are being developed by a European consortium, for 2.3 billion euros. In addition, the country wants to order 3,600 new armored military vehicles manufactured by the manufacturer Iveco in South Tyrol.
In the short term, Italy will release 153 million euros to support ongoing NATO missions. Another 2000 soldiers could soon be sent to Romania, Bulgaria and Poland.
Huge investment needs in France
French President Emmanuel Macron has also announced higher defense spending. Macron has already increased the defense budget by 1.7 billion euros every year during his tenure; it is currently just under 41 billion euros. The current financial planning envisages a military budget of 50 billion euros in 2025 – that was the goal before the war in Ukraine.
As a nuclear power, France has its own deterrence potential. However, there are concerns in Paris that the armed forces are not adequately prepared for conventional threat scenarios. A parliamentary report published in February put the need for additional investments at 40 to 60 billion euros over twelve years.
Although France is a nuclear power, it is not ideally prepared for regular military scenarios.
(Photo: dpa)
The exception is Spain: there is no political will to rearmament
In 2020, Spain spent just 1.17 percent of its economic output on the military. This was the lowest value in the EU after Luxembourg, Belgium and Slovenia. Spending is expected to increase by 7 percent this year. According to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain will be at 1.22 percent by 2024, when the NATO countries actually all want to achieve two percent.
Sánchez ruled out an increase in the budget because of the Ukraine war. The opposition blames the dependence of its socialists on left-wing coalition partner Unidas Podemos. There was already a serious crisis with the left-wing populists when Sánchez decided to send arms to Ukraine.
Read here: The Ukraine war follows a long-cherished plan of Putin – How far will Russia’s tanks roll?
Political scientists, however, assume that the main reasons are the lack of financial strength and the lower dependence on Russia, as Fernando Vallespín from the Autonomous University of Madrid explains: “The government can hardly increase the defense budget and cut one of its many social projects.”
Political scientist Pablo Simón points to the “economically very difficult times for Spain”. In addition, Ukraine is “far away from Madrid’s point of view”.
More: The EU is laying the groundwork for a defense union – but the path to get there is rocky