After an emergency summit on Ukraine in London, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Europeans to increase defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP.
While the Baltic states have long called for military spending to be at least 3 percent of GDP and US President Donald Trump has demanded 5 percent, this is the first time a French leader has mentioned a new figure.
“For the last three years, the Russians have spent 10 percent of their GDP on defense. We must prepare for what may happen, aiming for 3 to 3.5 percent of GDP,” Macron said in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro.
“We must give the European Commission a mandate to use innovative financing. That means either general borrowing or a European stability mechanism. First, we need 200 billion euros to invest,” he said.
NATO leaders are expected to raise the alliance’s current spending target by 2 percent at a summit in The Hague in June. At the Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary Mark Rutte told POLITICO from February 14 to 16 that the new target would be “significantly higher” than 3 percent.
