Europe Needs 250 Billion Euros Per Year For Defense Investment

UNSPLASH/Antoine Schibler ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Europe needs to spend about 250 billion euros annually in defense investments to secure themselves without US support, the amount that the bloc can bear given its economic power, according to published research.

This spending, equivalent to 1.5% of EU's gross domestic product, will allow Europe to mobilize about 300,000 troops to defend itself against Russia, according to studies conducted by the Bruegel research institute and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The study also called for closer coordination and mutual procurement, paying attention to that although Europe has financial capabilities, defense coordination on the continent is still a major challenge among the national armed forces.

Most European countries are under increasing pressure from US President Donald Trump to further enhance his military capabilities. His defense minister last week warned Europe against treating America like a stupid person by making it responsible for its defenses.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's candidate on Thursday cast doubt on Washington's future NATO presence, while US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz gave all NATO members a June deadline to fully meet the defense spending target of 2% of GDP.

The study of Bruegel and Kiel suggests an increase in European defense spending by up to 4% of GDP per year, from now on at 2%. Half of this amount can be financed by Europe's shared debt and used for joint procurement, while the rest can be borne nationally, the authors said.

The study noted that Moscow has significantly increased its military capacity since Ukraine's war, with a mobilization of around 700.000 troops in Ukraine and a sharp increase in tank production and armored vehicles.

The report shows that to add 50 brigades, Europe will need 1,400 new major fighting tanks and 2,000 infantry fighting vehicles, a number that will exceed the stock of the entire army of Germany, France, Italy and the UK today.

From an economic point of view, this can still be managed. This number is far less than the number that must be mobilized to address the crisis during the COVID pandemic, for example, said Guntram Wolff, one of the study's authors, in a statement.