In 2024, member states collectively spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defence, while Russia was spending 9%, Kaja Kallas told the audience of the European Defence Agency annual conference on Monday.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The European Union needs to boost its defense spending to prepare for the worst and be able
00:06to defend itself alone if needed, according to the bloc's top diplomat, Kaya Kallas.
00:13She said EU member states spent a collective average of 1.9% of their GDP on defense, while
00:19Russia was spending 9%.
00:22There should be no doubt in any of our minds that we need to spend more to prevent war.
00:30But we also need to prepare for war.
00:33We need to improve our capabilities.
00:35We need our defense industry to produce what we need.
00:39We must prepare for the worst.
00:42Over the next decade, Kallas said the EU will need at least 500 billion euro to remain competitive
00:48in defense.
00:49But so far, only around 13 billion euro has been earmarked in the EU's long-term budget
00:55from 2021 to 2027.