EU agrees five-year deadline to boost defenses against Russia, says Polish PM

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo of a Polish service member with the country’s GROM special operations unit (Polish Army photo)

By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -     European Union leaders are now in agreement that the EU must be fully capable of defending itself against a Russian attack by 2030, despite earlier resistance to the deadline from some countries, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.

Europe is dramatically stepping up spending on defence because of concern that the United States, which had guaranteed Europe's security since the end of World War Two, was no longer keen to do so, shifting its attention to the Indo-Pacific.

But not all EU countries are equally committed to higher defence spending, especially those geographically further from Russia.

Speaking after a summit of EU leaders that discussed the EU plan to step up defence readiness, Tusk said countries now spending less than others on defence had been reluctant to accept the five-year scheme proposed by the European Commission.

"Behind the scenes... it stirred some emotions. Especially in countries that spend little on defence now. There are several large countries that still spend very little. And they don't want to spend more. For now," Tusk told a press conference.

NATO member Spain spent 1.28% of GDP on defence in 2024 and Italy spent 1.49%, falling well short of the agreed NATO target of 2% of GDP, despite three years of war in Ukraine and U.S. pressure to further raise the NATO defence spending target.

Slovenia, Belgium and Portugal also spend between 1.29% and 1.55% of GDP on defence. Italy plans to increase military spending to 1.6% of GDP in 2027, while Spain wants to reach NATO's spending target of 2% of GDP only before 2029.

"Our position, shared with Denmark and Sweden, was that the more Russia has the advantage today, the more we have to hurry. We finally accepted, as the European Council, this commitment that by 2030 Europe must obtain full defence capabilities," Tusk said. "By 2030 Europe must be, in terms of army, weapons, technology, clearly stronger than Russia. And it will be."

Tusk said the five-year deadline corresponded to analysis by NATO head Mark Rutte that this was the amount of time Europe had before Russia rebuilt its offensive capabilities, after losses suffered in Ukraine, sufficiently to be ready to attack Europe.

He made clear this did not mean Europe expected an attack by Russia in 2030.

"It is key that Europe be really capable to defend itself and deter Putin," Tusk said. "Or, it is less about defending and more about showing through facts, decisions, that Putin's Russia does not stand a chance against Europe that is united and well-armed. It is the only effective method to avoid a war."

 (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Alex Richardson)