Russia produces adequate military equipment to be able to equip an army like Germany all 12 months. Europe should arm itself, but the countries either have no resources or do not want to cut spending on social programmes. The solution can be “a coalition of willing people”, writes “The Economist”.
Western intelligence services estimation that Russia's attack on a NATO country before 2030 is simply a very real threat. It might be assumed that this will mobilise Europeans to allocate the funds available to them for military spending, but it seems that the people of the continent “do not want to make any effort to do something as insignificant as resisting a possible invader,” writes the British weekly.
Despite the policy-declared willingness to increase arms spending, fewer governments are willing to hazard exposing themselves to voters if this entails a simplification in social spending. Europe tends to skimp on defence. In 2014, EU countries spent little than 1.4 percent of their common GDP – little than alcohol and cigarettes.
This year, respective European countries, specified as Italy and Spain, inactive do not allocate 2% of GDP to the reinforcements required by NATO. Meanwhile, Russia spends 2 fifths of its budget on defence and military equipment. After taking into account the cost of the army, Moscow spends more on its armed forces than the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland combined – emphasises the “Economicist”.
Donald Trump, who is just preparing to return to the White House, reiterated on 8 December that he would leave the US in NATO only erstwhile Europeans started to "pay their bills" for safety and defence – recalls the weekly weekly.
The problem is that the finances of European countries are in bad form and that politics on the continent have become more complicated than always before. France is in chaos, an election run is being launched in Germany, which will most likely lead to an indication of a fresh Chancellor only after months of negotiations on the formation of a coalition. And joint action at EU level, utilizing the scale effect of arms purchases, will be torpedoed by politicians specified as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who respects the Kremlin more than European leaders. Moreover, the countries with the utmost right are not willing to trust on a common EU defence budget, says the Economist.
According to the liberal newspaper, the solution would be a "coal of willing", in which a group of European countries curious in expanding safety spending would rise €500 billion on the markets. The combined debt of these countries would not burden their national balance sheets, and Orban could not block specified an initiative.
On 5 December the Financial Times reported that specified a plan is being considered, but its details are not known. However, the specified fact that politicians did not refrain from it after the publication of an article in the British diary is simply a good signal. The collection of specified a fund would signal Trump that Europe has made any efforts for its safety,” the weekly magazine emphasises.
Source: PAP
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