Spiegel predicted the EU would not be able to quickly move troops within the union in a conflict

The countries of the European Union (EU) will not be able to quickly move troops and equipment within the bloc in the event of a military conflict. This was reported on February 7 by the German magazine Der Spiegel with reference to a special report of the European Court of Auditors.

"Despite billions of dollars of investments, the EU states are unable to quickly move large numbers of troops and heavy equipment across Europe," the publication said.

In addition, the magazine pointed to the failure of the action plan, which was adopted by the EU in November 2022, as the European Commission did not conduct a needs assessment before drafting it and did not make a "reliable assessment of funding,"Gazeta.Ruspecifies.

As a result, by the end of 2023, the "rather small" budget, which was allocated for military mobility in the amount of €1.7 billion, ran out. The funding deficit in this regard, according to the publication, will remain until the end of 2027.

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Earlier, on February 4, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the EC will not react if the member states violate financial discipline in defense spending. According to her, the countries will have more budgetary space to increase defense spending.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the increase in defense spending puts the EU economy in a pre-crisis state. He also stressed that this decision was short-sighted and would harm the EU countries themselves.