The European Union (EU) plans to allocate trillions of euros to strengthen its defense as part of a new NATO investment plan, but will not receive economic benefits if it continues to buy weapons abroad, reports Bloomberg.
Without appropriate investment in their own armed forces, weapons development and production, European countries will lose additional economic benefits, in addition to strengthening their military potential. Almost 80% of the EU's weapons are currently purchased from abroad. Experts suggest that if this approach does not change, economic growth will be noticeable only in the first three years.
“It is much more important not how much money is spent, but how it is spent“, says Bloomberg economist Bhargavi Sakthivel. According to her, investments in arms research and development contribute much more to economic growth than purchases from other countries.
The agency notes that the EU is currently facing difficulties in developing its own research and development potential. To solve this problem, European countries need to develop domestic defense production. Otherwise, increasing defense spending will not help the EU achieve improved economic performance.
As NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced at a press conference ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague on June 24-25, Alliance leaders will adopt a military investment plan based on spending of 5% of GDP, of which 3.5% should be spent by alliance countries on military needs and 1.5% on economic and infrastructure projects (for example, modernizing ports and the road network needed to ensure NATO's defense). The summit will also approve a plan to expand the European military-industrial complex, which should ensure the necessary level of military production.