Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the EU budget and its priorities
9 December 09:42
EU Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius wants the next seven-year EU budget to include at least 100 billion euros for defense. This was reported by POLITICO, according to Komersant ukrainskyi.
According to the European Commissioner, this would be an “ambitious” increase, as the current seven-year budget of more than 1 trillion euros provides only 10 billion euros for defense.
And this is just one of the financial revolutions that Andrius Kubilius spoke about in an interview with POLITICO. Such changes, as noted, are a sign of the extent to which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended the EU budget and its priorities.
According to the publication, Andrius Kubilius is the first EU Commissioner for Defense and Space. This position was created to better integrate the bloc’s fragmented defense industry, increase spending, send more weapons to Ukraine, and improve defense coordination with NATO and the United States.
Providing Ukraine with the support it needs to win the war is key, he said in his first interview since taking office.
“We must be prepared for the possibility of Russian aggression. If we fail in Ukraine, then, of course, the likelihood of Russian military aggression against the EU countries may increase,” said the current European Commissioner and former twice Prime Minister of Lithuania.
Andrius Kubilius emphasized that the enemy of the EU is Russian leader Putin, not the newly elected US President Donald Trump, and expressed hope that the new US administration would realize that the West is under attack by an “axis of authoritarian countries” that includes “Russia, Iran, North Korea and partly China.”
The European Commissioner realizes that it will not be easy to find money to rebuild the European defense industry, but without it, all defense plans remain “theoretical.” According to Kubilius, the new money could come from increasing the bloc’s budget, issuing joint debt obligations, or easing rules for institutions such as the European Investment Bank to make it easier to invest in arms manufacturers.
