Olan McEvoy
Research expert covering the European Union for society, economy, and politics.
Get in touch with us nowAs of 2022, the European Union member states spent almost 240 billion Euros collectively on military defense. This includes money spent on procuring weapons, paying salaries, and other operational costs, as well as research & development expenditure. The total amount spent on defense declined significantly following the global financial crisis, as European countries cut back on public expenditure, reaching a low point of 138 billion Euros in 2012.
Since 2014, when Russia reemerged as a geopolitical threat to EU countries, due to its illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its covert military operations in the east of that country, military expenditure has increased sharply, rising particularly in Poland and Germany. Despite this, Germany still lags far behind the spending target set for it by NATO and the European Defence Agency of two percent of GDP.
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