this European Union made military spending Record in 2021 with a total investment of 214,000 million EurosAccording to the annual report of the European Defense Agency (EDA, its English abbreviation) is 6 percent more than the previous year, following the upward trend of the last seven years.
EDA study, Member States’ increased spending by 6 percent compared to 2020, for the highest annual growth since the EU changed its trend in military investment and started spending from 2015 after the financial crisis ended. On the basis of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), EU countries used 1.5 percent in military spending, the same rate as in 2020.
Since 2014, when Member States recorded a lower investment in Defense, the increase 52,000 million and 32 percent more With the commitments made by the EU after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this trend will continue in the coming years.
According to countries, 18 Member States increase spending in 2021, led by Finland It was followed by Greece with 42 percent increase and Slovenia with 33 percent. In absolute terms, the 4,000 million increase in Italy’s military budget stands out. In response, eight more Member States cut back on Defense items.
EDA values It considers developments in military spending as “positive” and shows that this could help make up for the EU’s under-spending on Defense between 2009 and 2018. In any case, he stresses the need to increase spending in a coordinated manner, as the bloc falls far short of its goals of representing 35 percent of total investment, despite the increase in joint military projects.
However, the report draws attention to: EU countries spend more collaboratively with “significant increase” to reach 7.9 billion euros of joint purchasesIt nearly doubled the figures of the previous year, when Member States jointly invested 4,100 million.
According to EU Foreign Policy High Representative Josep Borrell, despite the “long road” in military cooperation in Europe, “very little” is spent in a coordinated manner. Therefore, he demanded that the increase in defense spending be combined with joint investments that “should become the norm”.
“It’s not enough to spend, we have to do better, and that means doing it together. This is the only way to effectively equip the European Armed Forces for future challenges”, stressed the former Spanish minister.