On March 6, the European Council of Heads of State and Government brought together in extraordinary session in Brussels officially approved Rearm Europe, The European rearmament plan from 800 billion euros To enhance the European common defense announced on March 4 by the President of the Commission Ursula von der Layen. The date of the announcement of Von der Layen is not accidental and coincides with the drastic interruption of the support Ukraine by the United States, who have communicated that they will no longer provide armaments and intelligence information in Kiev, committed for 3 years to defend themselves from the large -scale invasion by the Russian Russian regime of Vladimir Putin. What from many Ukrainians has been experienced as a real betrayal has made it evident to most European chancelleries that could soon fail one of the foundations of the European Order born after the Second World War: soon the defensive umbrella offered by the United States could also fail for the European Union.
Rearmament in Europe, 800 billion of investments
The administration of President Donald Trump has in fact shown that Europe’s defense is not its priority and that NATO could also empty effectiveness. To this scenario he tries to respond the Rearm Europe plan, which plays on two parallel tracks: enhance investments of the individual Member States in the defense and create a greater coordination at community level. The first point is undoubtedly the economic one, to encourage all the Union countries to increase investments and reach at least 2% in relation to GDP also planned by NATO clauses. In fact, if Poland spends over 4% and Latvia and Estonia more than 3%, Italy and Spain are below the 1.5% threshold (to make a comparison, in 2024 the United States spent 3.4% of GDP). The first point of the Rearm Europe plan therefore includes theActivation of the national safeguard clause of the stability pact. With this precaution, the EU states will be able to spoil the ratio between deficit and national GDP without risking sanctions by 3%, as long as they do it to invest in defense.
Incentives in the field of European defense
Another money will come from European cohesion fundsparts of the Union budget that are historically addressed to support the economically and socially more referee areas in the member countries. Now these resources can also be used in military field, even if only for investments that also return to the civil field. This part of the plan has already generated several bad moods between many political parties, but the Commission stressed that the measure is optional and discretion of individual national governments. An important contribution is also provided for by private investors, which will be favored by a change to financial regulations in order to reduce barriers between national markets and encourage investments in transnational groups in the military sector. Another change will concern the European investment bank (Bei), which according to its statute cannot invest in the military sector. A modification will allow this credit institution to operate as a public bank for long -term investments and give funding in the field of defense.
The importance of common investments
As many critics of the Rearm Europe plan observe, the one that serves the European Union is not so much an increase in military expenditure in individual European countries – which added in 2024 have however spent much more than Russia – but better coordination in the technological field and in the management of resources already available. For this reason, a very important point of the plan presented by the Commission on March 4 provides for a Package of 150 billion euros of funds to be allocated to shared military investments. These will be paid in the form of subsidized credits to the countries that will organize themselves to make common purchases of standardized equipment. In addition to reducing costs compared to 27 countries that move in a scattered order to make their purchases and develop new national technologies, This will allow to deploy in the future systems that will be able to coordinate with much more ease than the current ones.
The goal of the EU REARMO Plan and the position of Italy
The development of “Made in Europe” weapon systems involving the rope of countries is seen especially by France, which has been investing in a much more autonomous armament chain for years than the non -European suppliers than for example has not done Italy. It is no coincidence that the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni It is among the European leaders who has shown itself more warm than the possibility of investing in a greater synergy in community defense, also for the fear that the national industries can come out damaged compared to the French and German ones. Furthermore, the concrete risk of the retaliation by Donald Trumpwhich on the one hand threatens to abandon Europe to its destiny but on the other he knows that the U.S. industries of armaments would lose billions if European countries began to invest in their autonomous industrial system. Despite the doubts of some political leaders, it is clear that greater coordination is necessary because this increase in investments not only creates a unnecessary armament race, but laid the foundations of greater synergy and efficiency for European defense. The European Court of Auditors is of this notice, which recently asked to Increase the 1.5 billion euro budget currently intended forEdirpa, the strengthening program of the European Defense Industry and for joint military purchases.
