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EU countries must match Europe’s defence ambitions in the upcoming budget negotiations, European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said at a conference on Thursday.
“If you want peace, prepare for war,” Kubilius said, citing an Ancient Roman proverb to argue that strength and readiness are the best deterrents against being attacked.
Kubilius argued that saving money on defence comes at the expense of the future, pointing out the enormous economic damage that accompanies the escalation of tensions into open conflict.
“In order to avoid the case for war, [the member states] need to increase the EU budget to 12-15 percent” of Europe’s gross domestic product, he said.
Kubilius’s remarks come after a recent proposal from the now-concluded Cypriot presidency of the Council of the EU, which included a 4 percent cut to the Competitiveness Fund, the instrument meant to boost technological innovation and defence.
Net contributor countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, known as the “frugals”, have pushed for further budget cuts while also arguing for resources to be redirected toward emerging priorities like defence, at the expense of traditional funding lines such as the common agricultural policy and cohesion policy.
For the defence commissioner, increasing defence spending at EU level offers clear added value through joint procurement procedures, delivering significantly greater efficiency than spending at the national level.
He drew a parallel with the United States, where the federal budget stayed limited until it expanded sharply during the Second World War, alongside the development of the modern welfare and security state.
“If member states want to avoid war and to save money from defence spending, they should increase both the EU budget and also the government spending at the EU level,” Kubilius said.