The fatal militarization of Europe
From a peace project to a security project: This is how the Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ describes the miraculous transformation of the EU. Sounds good – who could be against more security?
The only problem is that peace has been lost – and ‘security’ is being bought at the price of massive militarization. NATO's new five per cent target is far above what the Allies spent during the Cold War.
But unlike back then, the rearmament is not being cushioned by a policy of détente. There is no ‘Harmel Report’ that would justify a dual strategy (‘arm and talk’), and no ‘common security’.
On the contrary: the new ‘security policy’ is being introduced AGAINST Russia and WITHOUT diplomacy. At the EU summit that followed the NATO summit, there was no talk of peace, but of new sanctions.
The goal is to arm Russia to death and exhaust it economically. The result will be an arms race and a further weakening of the German economy. Berlin even boasts that the sanctions hurt us too!
Trump and Merz ‘leading’ together
As if that weren't bad enough, the turnaround comes at the behest of US President Trump. Chancellor Merz helped him achieve his breakthrough. European vassalage and German megalomania ‘happily’ united!
Merz at least still has a plan for how to pay for the rearmament – through massive new borrowing. The same cannot be said of the other EU states. ‘Europe is going to pay in a BIG way’ – that's all we know...
The EU summit, which followed directly on from the NATO summit, proved incapable and unwilling to deliver the necessary ‘follow-up’. The bill for militarisation was unceremoniously postponed until the autumn.
It will be hefty, that much is already clear. German Finance Minister Klingbeil has already given us a taste of this in his draft budget. There is money for the military, but not for a general reduction in electricity taxes...
This is the English version of my newsletter “Watchlist EUropa” (three times a week, subscription here). See also our Q&A on the outcome of the Nato summit (in German)