At an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday, assembled in response to the United States pulling back from commitments to Ukraine and questioning Europe’s resolve in its own security, European Union legislators approved a plan to spend the equivalent of about $860 billion on defense, a watershed moment in the 27-country bloc’s history, as defense has never been as much of a top priority in its 31 years as an entity.
European Council President António Costa said the bloc “decided to invest in priority areas” such as air defense, missiles, drone and anti-drone systems, artificial intelligence and more. The agreement sets aside about $160 billion in loans for EU member countries who may not be an immediate position to increase defense spending.
A joint statement said the initiative and European defense spending in general contributes to the “security of Europe as a whole, in particular as regards the EU’s eastern border, considering the threats posed by Russia and Belarus.”
“A stronger European defense also provides deterrence for Ukraine… Ukraine’s security is at the core of Europe’s security,” said Costa.
US President Donald Trump has long complained that European members of NATO have spent much less on defense than has the United States. He went so far as to suggest on Thursday, officials said, that the US might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the alliance’s minimum defense spending threshold.
British Defence Intelligence Update Ukraine 8 March 2025
The minimum is now set at two percent of GDP, but Trump has pushed to increase that percentage to five percent of GDP, more than even the US spends. Five NATO countries – Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Poland and the US – spent more than three percent on defense, with Poland registering the highest at four percent of GDP.
The US stands in third place on the list, after Poland and Estonia, at 3.38 percent of GDP. The NATO average is 2.71 percent.
“We are moving decisively towards a strong and more sovereign Europe of defense,” Costa said on Thursday. “We are putting our money where our mouth is.”
The new EU defense plan eases fiscal rules to allow states to spend much more.
French President Emmanuel Macron independently has called for a defense spending increase and suggested extending France’s nuclear deterrent to European partners.
In 2019, France spent less than 1.9 percent of GDP on defense. By 2023 that had risen to just above the NATO threshold, to 2.1 percent.
At the bottom of the NATO list, as per 2024 figures, are: Canada (1.37 percent), Belgium (1.30 percent), Luxembourg and Slovenia (1.29 percent each), and Spain, in dead last, at 1.28 percent of GDP.
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