Europe is taking responsibility for its own defence.
Our number one goal is to deter aggression and preserve peace.
In the last eight months since I started work as Commissioner for Defence and Space, the European Commission and Member States have taken unprecedented decisions to bolster the defence of the European union.
As a founder of the European Union, one of its largest members in terms of population and economy, and a historical driving force in European integration – Italy has a crucial role to play to get European defences in order.
Especially because Italy is also a European leader when it comes to defence and space industry, with European giants such as Leonardo and Fincantieri, and a broad network of highly innovative small and medium sized enterprises.
Italy is the second largest participant in the European Defence Fund, which supports collaborative research and development in Europe, with Italy taking part in 147 out of 161 projects.
Defence is about solidarity, the value on which the European Union is built. In the same way migrants arriving in Lampedusa are not only a challenge for Italy, but for the entire European Union, defence of our borders requires solidarity from all European Union member states. If one country does not invest in its defence, all others are weakened.
And if an attack hits an EU country – even at a faraway border, this affects all EU countries, our entire way of life, our freedom and our prosperity.
Such an attack is increasingly likely. On the one hand, Russia is ramping up its war machine, and producing weapons around the clock. In three months, Russia produces the same amount of ammunition, as all NATO countries, including the US, do in one year.
European intelligence services have evidence that Russia is discussing plans to put NATO article 5 to the test – the article that says an attack on one, is an attack on all. By 2030 or sooner.
In July, Supreme Allied Commander Alexus Grynkewich warned that the NATO alliance must prepare for the possibility that Russia and China launch wars in Europe and the Pacific simultaneously, with 2027 being a potential flashpoint year.
And on the other hand, the Americans are shifting their focus towards the Indo-Pacific to mitigate Chinese rising military power.
We, Europeans, need to draw our own conclusions – we need to be ready to take responsibility for our own defence.
For wisdom, we look at Rome. “If you want peace, prepare for war,” as the ancients said. This is why we have taken unprecedented steps forward in the last eight months, to massively boost our defence spending and production.
In July the Commission approved the draft of the next EU multi-annual budget for the years 2028-2035, proposing a five times increase of spending for defence and space – to a total of 131 billion euro.
We are implementing our “Readiness 2030” plan allowing European Member States to spend an additional 800 billion euros for defence during the next 4 years. Including 150 billion euro in very attractive so called “SAFE loans,” backed by the EU budget.
We’re allowing Member States flexibility under the stability and growth pact to spend up to 1.5 % of GDP more on defence.
This will make it possible for Member States to meet the new NATO spending targets they agreed to at the June summit: 3.5 % on real defence: weapons and equipment, and an additional 1.5 % on critical infrastructure, civil preparedness, resilience, innovation and other measures that will bolster overall defence.
We will boost our defence readiness by strengthening our European defence industry, which needs to be close to the European borders it needs to protect.
And as Mario Draghi outlined in his landmark report, investment in defence will also increase competitiveness and make our economies stronger. European taxpayers’ money should fund European industry, and European job, Italian industry and Italian jobs.
We can predict that EU Member States will spend in average around 3% of GDP on defence during 2028-2035. Which means around 600 billion euros per year or 4.2 trillion euros in total. According to NATO standards, we expect that around half of this amount will be spent on real investment in defence equipment, so two trillion euros.
Member States can procure equipment where they like. And I believe that Italy’s excellent defence industry can expect many orders. The problem will not be to get orders, but to be able to produce in mass and on time to meet those orders.
EU level programs, like SAFE loans (150 billion euro) or the next MFF for defence (~ 100 billion euro), will incentivise Member States to finance their defence more effectively through joint procurement from European industries.
We’re also making it possible for Member States to spend European cohesion funds on defence, security, and civil preparedness, so that Europe’s regions will also benefit from an increase in defence spending.
In short, we’re making Europe’s defence and economy stronger. We’ve laid the groundwork, now the real work needs to be done: real contracts, real production.
We must also do more to support Ukraine, which is our first line of defence. Although we have given significant support over the last three years of war, this amounts to 0.1 % of our European GDP. Far less than the 5% we are willing to invest into our own defence – against the same threat.
And finally, besides the material side of defence, we need to ensure the institutional side of European defence. In the 1950s, at the heart of the Cold War, Italy played a key role in setting up the European Defence Community. This failed at the time. Now, with new threats facing Europe, there is a new necessity to get organised – and a new opportunity for Italy to help us build a true European Defence Community.
