Researcher: EU lacks consensus on how to raise defense spending
Discussions to loosen European Union spending rules to allow countries to invest in defense are underway in Brussels. But ICDS researcher Tony Lawrence said member states are still debating exactly where to find the money.
Member states will be able to significantly increase their spending on defense under a plan announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this weekend, Politico Europe reported.
The commission president wants to trigger an emergency clause to allow governments greater leeway so that military expenditure would not be counted in their tightly controlled budget deficit limits, the outlet wrote.
Saturday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" asked researchers and politicians in Estonia for their view on the development.
Lawrence said while Europe has recognized the need to strengthen its defense, the question of where to get the money continues to spark disputes.
"I think they understand the need but where the money is coming from is not so obvious," he told the show. "This is why there are various discussions on the table at the moment. So, things like Eurobonds, shared borrowing, relaxing the convergence criteria that will allow states to spend more – to raise their own debt, possibly even increasing the defense budget, – relaxing the rules of the European investment budget in order to allow defense borrowing. So there are a lot of ideas on the table but there is not much consensus."
Chairman of the Riigikogu's National Defense Committee Kalev Stoicescu (Eesti 200) said the changes would give countries an excuse to delay real defense strengthening.
For example, German military personnel and experts recently gave a scathing assessment of the German army's combat readiness.
The country is one of Ukraine's largest supporters, but its procurement system is unable to replenish equipment handed over to its forces.
"I am rather optimistic that a new German government, which will be formed after the elections — I hope it will not take too long after the elections, because this process related to Ukraine is ongoing in parallel. This is also crucial for Europe, and we need a new German government in place as soon as possible. That will certainly strengthen Germany's military defense," Stoicescu said.
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Editor: Valner Väino, Helen Wright
Source: Aktuaalne kaamera
