Kaja Kallas of the EU says that Europe must spend more for the defense

Member States of the European Union must increase defense spending to monitor the pace of the threats to which the continent is warned of his leader in foreign policy.

Kaja Kallas, who was Prime Minister of Estonia until July 2024, said that “each euro spent on school, health care and well-being (was) vulnerable” if the block did not maintain Solid defenses.

US President Donald Trump was right to criticize Europe’s spending, which is on average 1.9%, she added.

She also pointed out that Russia spent 9% of its gross domestic product (GDP) for defense and said that Europe’s expenses were “clearly not sufficient” in the light of the war in Ukraine.

“To prevent war, we have to spend more, which is clear,” she told BBC World Service weekend program.

Kallas said that the Member States also had to work together to “put pressure” on the economic level of Russia, and referred to a new sanctions package next month to mark three years of war in Ukraine.

The EU must be “creative” in terms of limitation of “Russia’s ability to conduct this war,” she said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “puts pressure on pressure” is the means to put an end to this war because Putin is the one who started it “.

Before taking the EU post last December, Kallas repeatedly called for higher levels of defense spending when she was the first Prime Minister of Estonia.

In February 2024, she said that she wanted NATO countries to increase defense expenses to 3% of their GDP.

The members of the Alliance have undertaken to spend at least 2% of the GDP for the defense after the Russian forces seized the southern Crimea Ukraine peninsula and proxies supported by Moscow have taken control of major regions from eastern Ukraine in 2014.

As a Estonian Prime Minister, Kallas promised more than 1% of the country’s GDP in kyiv to help strengthen the Ukraine war effort.

“If each NATO country was doing this, Ukraine would win,” She said to the BBC last year.

According to NATO estimates for 2024Defense expenses in Estonia in proportion to GDP were the highest second in the military alliance.

In December 2024, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Member States should “move to a state of mind in wartime” and spend “more than 2%” in defense.

During his first mandate, US President Donald Trump put pressure on NATO members to increase defense spending and then called for a commitment to meet 4% of GDP.

Shortly before his second inauguration in January, Trump urged European members of NATO to spend 5%, telling journalists: “They can all afford it.”

When asked if she had seen the war concluded in favor of Ukraine, Kallas said that it was “absolutely” still alive in his mind.

“I really don’t see any other option. I mean, if we let the brutal assault prosper, then we will see that in other parts of the world,” she added.

She said: “All potential attackers in the world clearly take notes how we react to the assault of Russia.”