An analysis by the Brussels-based research institute Bruegel and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has examined the costs and requirements that Europe would have to cope with in order to defend itself against Russia without the support of the USA. According to the study, annual defense investments of around 250 billion euros would be required to effectively counter Russia’s military potential.
The authors assume that Europe would have to deploy around 50 additional brigades with a total of 300,000 soldiers. This would require at least 1,400 new main battle tanks and 2,000 infantry fighting vehicles – more than the current stocks of the German, French, Italian and British land forces combined. Europe would also have to produce around 2,000 long-range drones every year.
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In purely economic terms, this would be feasible for the EU: The additional expenditure would correspond to just 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) – far less than the financial resources mobilized during the Covid pandemic. For Germany, the EU’s largest economy, this would mean an increase in defense spending from the current 80 billion euros to up to 140 billion euros, which would correspond to 3.5% of GDP.
