Member states of the European Union are mulling a multi-year proposal to ramp up the bloc’s military spending. The plan is likely to face hurdles, including opposition from Hungary.
The ReArm Europe Plan was rolled out by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who warned, “We are living in the most momentous and dangerous of times.” The proposal calls for the 27-nation bloc to increase defense spending by $841 billion, roughly the annual US military budget, over the course of four years.
To achieve the surge in spending, von der Leyen said the EU was prepared to remove a requirement that limits the amount of debt that member states are allowed to hold. She believes each country could increase military spending by 1.5% of their respective GDPs.
In addition, the bloc will take out over $150 billion in loans, from which funds will be doled out to member states for defense spending.
Von der Leyen argued that the boost was necessary “to respond to the short-term urgency to act and support Ukraine, but also to address the long-term need to take on much more responsibility for our own European security.”
During the first six weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump has caused alarm in Europe over America’s commitment to NATO, and even moved to freeze military aid to Ukraine. Following a contentious press conference between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office late last week, most European leaders voiced their support for Kiev.
One exception was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who instead backed Trump after the heated exchange and voiced opposition to the ReArm Europe Plan. The PM indicated he would not agree to any proposal that continued to arm Ukraine rather than seeking a negotiated end to the conflict with Russia. As most EU actions require consensus, Budapest could scuttle ReArm Europe. Orbán has been a vocal critic of Western military support for Kiev since the war began in 2022, and has largely resisted the US-European sanctions campaign on Moscow, seeking to maintain relations with Russia.
Aside from the ReArm Europe Plan, France is considering extending its nuclear umbrella to cover the bloc. In a recent interview, President Emmanuel Macron said “I am available to open this discussion…if it allows [us] to build a European force.”
He added in a second interview, “We have a shield, they don’t. And they can no longer depend on the American nuclear deterrent. We need a strategic dialogue with those who don’t have it, and that would make France stronger.”
Paris is the only nuclear-armed state in the European Union, though several members host US nuclear weapons on their soil.
French opposition figure Marine Le Pen denounced Macron’s suggestion that Paris would commit to defending other nations with its strategic arsenal. “Sharing (nuclear) deterrence is equivalent to abolishing it,” she said, arguing that “unleashing the nuclear fire cannot be separated from national and popular legitimacy.”
