The EU wants to spend €100bn next year to be ready for a potential Russian attack
European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius has said that the next seven-year budget of the European Union should allocate about 100 billion euros for defence.
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At the same time, he said that such an amount is "ambitious", as the current seven-year EU budget of more than €1 trillion provides for the allocation of only €10 billion for defence.
"We must be prepared for possible Russian aggression. If we fail in Ukraine, the likelihood of Russian military aggression against the EU countries may increase," he stressed.
Andrius Kubilius. Illustration: Європейська правда
Mr Kubilius is the EU's first Commissioner for Defence and Space, a post created to better integrate the bloc's fragmented defence industry, increase spending, send more weapons to Ukraine and improve defence coordination with NATO and the United States.
Providing Ukraine with the support it needs to win the war is key, he said in his first interview since taking office this week.
"We must be prepared for the possibility of Russian aggression. If we fail in Ukraine, then, of course, the likelihood of Russian military aggression against EU countries may increase," Kubilius said.
In addition, Kubilius stressed that the EU's enemy is Russian leader Vladimir Putin, not US President-elect Donald Trump.
The European Commissioner expressed hope that the new US administration will realise that the West is under attack from an "axis of authoritarian countries", which includes "Russia, Iran, North Korea and partly China".
Source: Politico
