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BRUSSELS — The European public and politicians are in agreement that EU countries should do more to increase weapons production.
That’s according to the results of the latest Eurobarometer poll, obtained in advance by POLITICO Playbook, and a draft of the EU’s Strategic Agenda seen by POLITICO.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago has dramatically shifted the rhetoric around defense spending, pushing it up the agenda across the bloc — often at the expense of other policy areas like tackling climate change.
Both governments and ordinary people are responding to the war.
Eurobarometer found that 77 percent of those surveyed back a common defense and security policy among EU countries while 71 percent agree that the EU needs to reinforce its capacity to produce military equipment.
Politicians are broadly in agreement over that happening.
Among EU leaders, there’s “an overwhelming consensus on the aim to take greater responsibility for our security and defense,” according to a draft of the Strategic Agenda — a document agreed every five years that spells out the bloc’s aims.
National officials are finalizing it under the coordination of European Council President Charles Michel, and will meet again Friday. The goal is to present it to EU leaders next month.
The effort will “create an internal market for defense products and services, enhancing production capacity and fostering joint procurement.”
But ramping up arms production means increasing defense spending. European countries have been boosting spending for about a decade — since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 — but the pace has significantly accelerated thanks to pressure from former President Donald Trump and then Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
NATO says that this year two-thirds of its 32 members will meet the alliance’s goal of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now countries like the U.K. and Poland are calling for that to go even higher.
“It’s time for the world to wake up. And that means translating this moment to concrete plans and capabilities. And that starts with laying the foundations for an alliance-wide increase in spending on our collective deterrent,” U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said this week.
The EU’s Strategic Agenda also tackles where to find the extra money to spend on defense.
The draft includes “a new defense fund for European projects” by expanding the mandate of the European Investment Bank. That’s something that EU finance ministers are already working on by tweaking the bank’s rules to make it easier to lend to defense projects.
The draft also mentions “the possibility of EU defense bonds.” However, frugal countries led by Germany aren’t keen on expanding the EU’s common borrowing.
The proposal doesn’t mention using cash from the European Stability Mechanism, which provides emergency financial aid for members of the eurozone. That’s an idea that has been floating around Brussels, but didn’t gain traction.
The change in defense thinking was driven by the war in Ukraine, and the Barometer poll, taken in April, finds overwhelming support for helping Kyiv.
Providing humanitarian aid is backed by 87 percent of those polled, 70 percent support hitting Russia with sanctions and 60 percent approve of the EU financing the purchase and supply of military equipment to Ukraine.
