Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU countries have increased their defense spending from 200 to 300 billion euros - von der Leyen
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU member states have increased their defense spending from just over 200 billion euros to almost 300 billion euros,
According to Censor.NET, with reference to Interfax-Ukraine, this was stated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a speech in Prague at the GLOBSEC Forum international security conference.
"We Europeans must have the means to defend ourselves and deter any possible adversaries. (...) We have already made unprecedented progress. Member states have increased their defense spending (since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine) from just over 200 billion euros (...) to almost 300 billion euros this year," von der Leyen said.
She noted that the European "defense industry has also taken a step towards a new reality." "We have resumed the work of production lines. We have placed new orders and are cutting red tape to produce more and more," the European Commission President said.
"But this is not enough. The reality is that even if Europeans take current security threats seriously, it will take time and huge investments to restructure our defense industry. Our goal should be to create a continental-scale defense industry," she said.
Von der Leyen believes that "Central Europe is very well positioned to become one of the engines and one of the great beneficiaries of this new leap forward in the European defense sector."
