Europe Finally Increases Defense Spending

For decades they couldn't take an interest in their own defense; they just expected the US to foot the bill. Europe Increases Defense Spending — But Still Are Decades Behind the U.S. and Unprepared for War with Russia

So the real question is, what do they expect to do?

Ironically, while these increases are being made in defiance of the U.S., they align perfectly with what Trump has been demanding since his first term: that Europe boost its defense spending and ease the burden on America.

I don't know how Europe increasing defense spending can be "in defiance of America." Trump was trying to get them to increase defense spending in his first term, and I've thought that Europe needs to do more to defend themselves for a long time. Defending Europe from Russia in the late 1940s made sense, when a lot of Europe was still recovering from WWII. By the time the Berlin Wall fell, and the Warsaw Pact disbanded, Europe was an economic powerhouse, and could have stood on its own, with some help from the USA. Instead the bulk of the tanks in Europe were American, etc.

This highlights another fundamental issue in Europe: some countries are relatively poor, and the socialist nature of their governments has accustomed them to expecting handouts rather than earning and spending on their own.

This raises a critical question—will countries like France and Spain fully commit to the plan if they are told they must repay the loans?

So if France and Spain don't want to pay for their own defense - they want grants. Who do they expect to pay? Germany? they need to expand their own defense spending. Germany has other problems, but at least they are meeting their NATO spending commitments, though I think they are losing more via waste than we are.

France is also meeting its commitments under NATO, and in 2024 was spending 2.06% of its GDP on its military. (The commitment has been 2% for a long time.) Spain is only spending 1.28% of GDP. source: NATO Spending by Country 2025. I have no idea how accurate those numbers are; that is just what a quick search of the intertubes turned up.

There is more. Click thru.

Here are some past posts, in which I bash on German Military preparedness. They were the largest economy in Europe before they decided to de-industrialize and embrace Green power.

• German military procurement is “one hell of a complete disaster.”
• If German Military Might is Non-existent…
• Remember When Trump Lit Into Germans Over Military Spending?
• Germany – Still Shirking Their Responsibilities to NATO