EU Defense Industry is Fragmented & Reduced to 'Bonsai Size' – Expert
© AP Photo / Martin Meissner
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization plans to ask its European members and Canada to ramp up their weapons and equipment stockpiles by a hefty 30% in the coming years, Bloomberg reported earlier. The move is seen, in part, as a response to President Donald Trump’s push to shift more of the defense burden from the US to the rest of the alliance.
It will take a lot of time before the EU can hope to match the production volume of the US defense industry, even if the bloc doesn't want to replicate all the range of its weaponry, Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, told Sputnik.
“So far, the defense industry is far more developed in the US than in Europe. Only the US has built a full range of weapon systems. Even more crucially, the US defense industry operates at a significantly higher production level than Europe’s,” he noted.
GLOBALISTS target Europe's competitiveness through MILITARY SPENDING
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NATO wants European members to increase military gear stocks by 30%. But is this pushing Europe’s future competitiveness to the brink?
Let's dive into what German MP Dr. Rainer Rothfuss has to say. 🧵👇 (1/6) pic.twitter.com/G8s6YaXYHB
NATO will ask European allies and Canada to boost their stocks of weaponry and equipment by about 30% in the next few years, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing a senior alliance official.
German soldiers load tank howitzers for transport to Lithuania at the Bundeswehr army base in Munster, northern Germany, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022.
© AP Photo / Martin Meissner
After a series of discussions, new targets for the military capabilities of NATO allies will purportedly be adopted sometime in early June, when the alliance’s defense ministers gather in Brussels.
However, reaching such new levels would demand a hefty financial commitment from most European allies and Canada, while US spending would remain unchanged, officials noted.
