“Sensibly, European countries, and in particular the poorest, are slipping into a war economy”

2023-04-24 09:43:44

Thierry Breton has found a new fight: rearming Europe. The very restless European commissioner for the internal market travels the Old Continent, in search of shells. Ukraine consumes it en masse, nearly 5,000 a day, and still wants more. This is much more than what German, French or Spanish factories can currently produce.

The European Union adopted a plan on March 20 which provides for drawing on military reserves and helping manufacturers to ramp up. And if that were not enough, it would be necessary to resolve to buy outside Europe, which the European commissioner seeks to avoid. Like masks or Doliprane, the priority is now strategic autonomy.

But unlike the necessities born with the health crisis, the need should unfortunately last longer. The world is pulling guns everywhere, and particularly in Europe. The latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, published on Sunday, April 23, reports a new record on the weapons front.

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The governments of the planet, who are concerned about the preservation of the climate and biodiversity, are constantly stocking up on weapons. Expenditure in 2022 reached the unprecedented amount of 2,240 billion dollars (2,040 billion euros), or 2.2% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). If the United States is, by far, the first in terms of expenditure (39% of the total), it precedes a cohort of ambitious officers such as China (13%), Russia (3.9%), the India and Saudi Arabia.

Multiplication of contracts

However, the biggest advances come from old Europe. Since the unilateral annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, the east of the continent has been rearming at high speed. Admittedly, the big spenders are still, in order, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, but, if we look at the expenses incurred in proportion to their wealth, measured by GDP, Greece spends 3, 76% of its GDP goes to defence, Poland 2.42% and the Baltic countries, Croatia or Slovakia are all beyond the NATO recommendation of 2%. By way of comparison, France is at 1.9% and Germany at 1.4%.

The most up-and-coming country in this area is certainly Poland. Since the war is on its borders, it multiplies the contracts. According to Financial Times, spending should amount to 4% of its GDP in 2023. It has thus concluded a contract of 10 billion dollars to buy 500 Himars rocket launchers from the American Lockheed Martin. It will then have on its territory more copies of these machines than there are on American soil.

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