Source: European Parliament
Member States that are also North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies have committed to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defence.
While not all Member States have reached this target yet, the trajectory over the past years is going in that direction. The White Paper for European Defence — Readiness 2030[1] recognises this positive trend and notes a growth in the defence spending by Member States of more than 31% since 2021, reaching 1.9% of the EU’s combined gross domestic product in 2024. But this is not enough, in particular to compensate for decades of underinvestment in defence.
In view of the growing geopolitical challenges EU faces, its security depends on this overall increase of defence spending and defence investments, as well as Member States closely coordinating and working together.
The Commission therefore offers support to all Member States in this endeavour, including by offering the possibility to Member States to use the national escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact[2] for additional expenditure in defence up to EUR 650 billion, in a framed and coordinated manner.
Finally, the Security Action for Europe Regulation adopted by Member States on 27 May 2025[3] will provide Member States with loans up to EUR 150 billion.
Its recital (8) acknowledges that ‘… there is a growing need to accelerate, in a spirit of solidarity, the provision of Union support to those Member States that are likely to be threatened by serious difficulties due to the massive public investments needed, which may have an impact on their economic situation and that …, such solidarity is especially essential for those Member States which are most exposed to military threats’.
- [1] https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/e6d5db69-e0ab-4bec-9dc0-3867b4373019_en?filename=White%20paper%20for%20European%20defence%20%E2%80%93%20Readiness%202030.pdf.
- [2] https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/a57304ce-1a98-4a2c-aed5-36485884f1a0_en?filename=Communication-on-the-national-escape-clause.pdf.
- [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202501106.