EU leaders call for more defense spending amid pressure from Trump – DW – 01/22/2025

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top foreign affairs official, on Wednesday called on EU member states to “wake up” on defense spending.

“Russia is not a problem for some, but for all of us. Europeans need to wake up,” Kallas said at the European Defense Agency’s annual conference in Brussels.

Kallas: President Trump is ‘right’ on defense spending

“Europe’s failure to invest in military capabilities also sends a dangerous signal to the aggressor. Weakness invites it,” Kallas said. “There is nothing that cannot be used against us today.”

In response to US President Donald Trump’s push for NATO member states to fund more defense, Kallas said “President Trump is right that we are not spending enough. It’s time to invest.”

“The EU’s message to the United States is clear: we must do more for our own defense and take a fair share of responsibility for Europe’s security,” she continued. Additionally, Kallas said the bloc should build a “mutually beneficial security and defense relationship” with the United Kingdom, which she described as a “key partner.”

Tusk: European countries should devote 5% of their GDP to defense

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in a speech to European parliamentarians in Strasbourg, France, said that “if Europe wants to survive, it must be armed.”

Tusk said European countries should spend 5% of their GDP on defense, which is exactly what Trump is asking of NATO members.

The Polish leader said his country was already spending that amount on defense. Poland borders Belarus, which is aligned with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has previously called the 5% GDP requirement too costly.

In a meeting with Scholz in Paris on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe must not only increase its defense spending but also “develop its own industrial base, its own capabilities, its own industry.”

Defense spending is expected to be a major talking point during Trump’s second term. In February last year, Trump suggested he would “encourage” Russia to attack European NATO members who fail to meet their financial obligations within NATO.

wd/jcg (Reuters, AFP, afp)