US / Europe / Defence: some early thoughts
We had it coming.
1. Trump’s demand for increased European defence spending is (a) no surprise, and (b) totally reasonable. So: what, in general terms, is Europe going to sacrifice, in order to move towards him on this? Its freedom? Because if Putin makes his next territorial move while Trump is in the job, that’s what is at stake.
I’m guessing it’ll be Net Zero etc. That particular policy desideratum is already proven to take second place to growth in most countries, when confronted directly with the trade-off. I reckon it will come a poor third, when Russia actively raises dust in the Baltics / the Polish border / the Balkans.
2. Bringing this issue home to a Parliament near you: will Starmer dare to continue holding back on his minimalist 2.5% GDP defence spending “aspiration”? There’s no timetable for that, beyond “by the end of the Parliament”; and thus far the MoD is in the firing line for Reeves’ upcoming departmental cuts like all the rest.
3. Looking just a little further from home: when is the EU going to tell the Irish they need to pull their weight on defence?? They’ve been shamelessly free-riding forever, and some day it has to stop. I know they have neutrality built into their Accession Treaty, but they can damn’ well start paying cash for the defence they’ve been enjoying for free.
Loads more to say, of course, so have at it BTL.
We had it coming.
ND
Source: http://www.cityunslicker.co.uk/2025/02/us-europe-defence-some-early-thoughts.html
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