Bloomberg pointed to negotiations in the EU on increasing defense spending

According to the agency, due to the intentions of The United States to abandon its obligations to ensure Europe's security, a set of measures has been developed aimed at increasing defense spending by EU countries.

According to the publication, the first initiative is designed to free up 160 billion euros for defense spending through tax relief. The second part of the European "defense plan" involves the creation of some kind of mechanism for joint investments in the military industry.

It is noted that European countries plan to direct these investments into projects in the field of air defense, missile industry, unmanned aircraft and military applications of artificial intelligence.

The third point of the plan is that the European Investment Bank will start issuing loans for the development of military projects, and not just for the production of dual-use goods, Bloomberg writes. According to the European Commission, this will also allow attracting funds from private banks to meet the military needs of EU countries.

In addition, the European Union plans to use for military purposes the funds of the €392 billion European Economic Recovery Fund, created to combat the effects of the pandemic, agency sources say. According to analysts, all the points of the plan will be very difficult to implement.

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The Financial Times newspaper reported on February 9 that the EU authorities are considering href="https://iz.ru/1841684/2025-02-19/smi-uznali-o-planakh-es-perenapravit-sredstva-ot-borby-s-pandemiei-na-oboronu">the opportunity to redistribute €93 billion for defense needs of unused funds that were initially allocated for recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.