Can Europe guarantee its autonomy in defense matters? This question has been posed in the wake of the Trump administration's attacks and pressure on European democracies, and as the war in Ukraine, triggered by Vladimir Putin, enters its fourth year.
The issue is a thorny one, since, almost 35 years after the end of the Cold War, military spending by the vast majority of European states has fallen sharply. Today, European armed forces are no longer considered to be autonomous or ready for a high-intensity conflict.
Military spending has declined over the last 40 years
Military spending relative to European countries' gross domestic products (GDP), since 1960.
The "ReArm Europe" plan recently presented by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, along with Germany's special fund for modernizing the Bundeswehr and France's 2024-2030 military programming law, speak to European leaders' determination to reinvest in strategic issues by emancipating themselves from Washington. Yet, beyond funding matters, rearming the continent is also an unprecedented industrial and technological challenge for European economies.
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