European Union leaders have been urged to significantly increase defence spending and re-examine the bloc’s ambitious climate goals. In a speech before the European Parliament, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk advocated for a substantial boost in military expenditure, citing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s campaign of instrumentalised migration as examples of the need for increased security.
Tusk, who is set to lead Poland’s presidency of the Council of the EU, believes that Europe must start defending itself without relying on American security. He proposed the issuance of EU-wide debt to finance military projects, a suggestion endorsed by Poland and France but opposed by Germany and the Netherlands.
However, Tusk emphasized that finding alternative funding methods was not crucial. “There is no alternative to this: Europe must start defending itself, and so it must start spending European money on this as well,” he said.
The Polish premier also criticized the EU’s Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. He argued that some environmental regulations have led to prohibitively high energy prices, hurting the bloc’s competitiveness against major powers like the US and China.
Tusk called for a “full and very critical review” of the Green Deal laws, citing concerns over their impact on the economy and society. However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has vowed to maintain the original targets while decreasing energy prices for Europeans.
As Tusk’s speech sparked applause from right-wing MEPs but disapproval from progressives, he emphasized the need for a common sense approach to address rising energy costs and the bloc’s security challenges.
Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/01/22/eu-must-spend-more-than-1-of-gdp-on-defence-to-prepare-for-the-worst-kallas-says