Most likely, the dream of “buying European” praised by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen would not materialize for a while. Even if purchases reproduce in the land sector, other sectors like Naval and Aerospace have experienced very little investments. In some regions such as rocket artillery or low -observable fighter, local purchase is simply not an option.
However, despite the continuous dependence of Europe with regard to American military suppliers, there are signs of progress.
The analysis by the Institute of Selected Purchase Efforts presented between February 2022 and September 2024 revealed that 52% of their value was awarded to European suppliers, compared to 34% for the United States. The “buying European” trend is likely to gain ground, according to the authors of the report.
Europe also passes more than before to defend itself.
In the wake of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in Russia in 2022, several NATO countries have intensified their efforts to reach or exceed the alliance’s objective of spending at least 2% of the gross domestic product in defense.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House was also an unexpected boon for supporters of European defense. The president demands that European allies contribute more to NATO – and to its suggestion that the United States could abandon its defending commitments to the continent – have questioned America’s reliability as an ally. This makes the idea of ”truly European defense”, as defended by French President Emmanuel Macron, more attractive.
But short of money have only much room for maneuver to spend more in defense while keeping their national debts under control.
In addition, tensions in countries like Spain and Italy, which struggled with pressed public finances, suggest that public opposition to greater military spending could also be an obstacle if Europe is left alone.
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