Hours after Washington froze all military aid to Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday presented a Rearm Europe Plan that she said could see member states mobilize up to €800 billion to finance a massive ramp-up in defence spending, increasing pressure on the group to enhance its help.
“We are in a rearmament era, and Europe is prepared to significantly increase its defense spending, both to address the long-term need to assume greater responsibility for our own European security and to respond to the short-term urgency to act and support Ukraine, the president of the European Commission stated.
A “new instrument” to give member states €150 billion in loans to finance joint defense investments in pan-European capabilities like air and missile defense, artillery systems, missiles and ammunition, drones, and anti-drone systems is one of the five measures she outlined in a letter to EU leaders ahead of an extraordinary summit on Thursday.
Journalists were not asked by von der Leyen how this money would be raised or whether it would include the approximately €90 billion in unused funds from the post-COVID recovery fund. Some ‘frugal’ member states have thus far strongly rejected issuing so-called Eurobonds to finance the bloc’s defence needs.
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