The media predicted decades of European rearmament

It may take more than a decade for European NATO members to rearm their armies and fill the gaps of years of underinvestment. This was reported on March 13 by Bloomberg with reference to its analytical report.

According to experts, the 15 largest European members of NATO may need to increase investments in the defense sector from $340 billion to $720 billion per year.

"If we build on the lessons learned from the conflict in Ukraine, then European NATO members will need at least $200 billion to purchase armored vehicles," the agency quoted George Ferguson, a leading analyst, as saying.

According to analysts, difficulties in large-scale rearmament may occur due to the volume of orders from defense contractors. It is also noted that there is a shortage of qualified personnel in the industry.

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This will hit the economy of the association — the amount required for rearmament is four times its annual budget.

Ahead of his return to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has increased pressure on NATO members to increase defense spending to 5%. Currently, only 23 of the 32 NATO countries achieve the defense spending target of 2% of GDP. For example, Italy and Spain are among the EU countries that have not reached this threshold.

Earlier, on March 11, the head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, said that the EU defense industry was significantly lagging behind the Russian one. According to von der Leyen, Russia spends more on military spending than the whole of Europe, where there is low production. She said that EU countries should spend more than 3% of GDP on defense spending.

Bloomberg reported on March 9 that the EU's military-industrial complexes (MICS) have difficulty accessing financing from credit institutions, which hinders the EU's efforts to build up its defense capability.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said on March 13 that European countries were trying to invent an enemy to justify significant spending on weapons. Russia, he added, is the most suitable for these purposes.