Spend More on Defence

Feb 1 2025 The BBC & Feb 3 2025 The New York Times

BBC
EU foreign policy chief says defence spending must rise
NYT
I’m the Foreign Minister of Poland. Europe Has Got the Message.

Some Nato countries have not yet reached the 2% of GDP defence spending level, agreed already in 2014, after Russia seized Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. There has been progress, but there is still much to do. And now, the EU foreign policy chief is calling for a 3% defence spending level.

Russia is spending 9% of GDP on defence, so Europe needs to keep up with it, it is that simple. We do not need to go to 9%, but we do need to spend more.

This is simple math, spending more on defence is expensive, but fighting a war will be exponentially more expensive. Spend a bit more now voluntarily, so you will not be forced to spend much more later.

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If you don’t like the idea of spending money on “military and defence stuff”, think of it as a payment for insurance for the things, I assume, you think it should be used for; education, healthcare, social welfare, infrastructure, and other good things your society provides for you.

In war all those good things will be totally vulnerable, just think about the maternity hospitals Russia has bombed in Ukraine.

Paul Krugman has described the government as "an insurance company with an army." Well, if an army is part of the insurance company, it is part of the insurance, right?

Si vis pacem, para bellum - If you want peace, prepare for war.

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BTW - Paul Krugman may have popularised the "an insurance company with an army," in a piece in 2011, but he says it is from Peter Fisher, undersecretary of the Treasury, in 2002.