Peace and love in the speeches, war and gunpowder in the budgets. Beyond words and promises, the policy of the European countries that are part of NATO is heading towards an arms escalation which translates, in turn, into tons of millions of euros that feed the large industries of the war sector.
With the laptop at hand and an Excel document that produces eloquent figures, Jordi Calvoresearcher of Delàs Center for Peace Studiesputs a shocking doubt on the table. “They are preparing Europe for a war scenario of such magnitude which makes us wonder if in reality the decision has already been made and they are leading us to it,” he says.
Calvo is one of the authors of the report that the Delàs Center has just published in collaboration with the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT) and in which the growing militarization of Europe is analyzed. The conclusion is clear: no matter how much European leaders heave sighs for peace, What the figures show is that there is more and more money for war.
The document emphasizes that this is a process that did not begin with the war in Ukraine nor will it end when that conflict ends.
Not in vain, the researchers point out that it is “a process in which the military industry and the lobbies weapons, who have promoted the construction of a Defense Europe based on the injection of funds for the development and sale of weapons.”
The numbers speak for themselves. The community budget on security and defense “has tripled from 6.5 billion euros in 2007 to 19.5 billion euros in the current 2021-2027 framework program.” All this “without counting the successive increases under the cover of the war in Ukraine, such as those of the European Peace Fund destined to give military support to Ukraine, which has already reached 39,000 million euros in September 2024″.
The report emphasizes that the European military budget reached
record numbers in 2023when it reached 289.3 billion euros. This amount, the authors of the study point out, represented an increase of 21.3% compared to 2022.
The data is even more eloquent when compared with other powers. If the figures from the United Kingdom and Norway – non-EU countries that are part of NATO – are added, the alliance’s European military spending in 2023 reached 366,623 million euros“the second largest in the world behind the US, higher than China and multiplies Russian military spending by three“, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Europe is also consolidating itself as the second largest arms exporter in the world after the United States. According to SIPRI data, Spain appears as the eighth world arms seller mainly due to the business reached with Saudi Arabia.
“Mass hysteria”
In the report published by the Delàs Center, the researcher Pere Ortega highlights that “after the invasion of ukraine on the part of Russia, a collective hysteria has settled in the minds of the rulers of the European Union, who, with very few exceptions, believe that Vladimir Putin “It is not enough to have attacked Ukraine and will invade some other European country.”
The expert highlights that “in light of this, European leaders have committed to invest more in defense“under the argument that this will lead to providing “more security, more peace and more freedom to Europe“. In Ortega’s opinion, these statements seek to “justify the immense military spending that they have unleashed in their countries.”
“A generalized rearmament that converts the economy of the EU countries in war economy. Perhaps for some it is an exaggeration, since they will argue that not the entire economy is at the service of war, but the fact is that arms production has become a priority of European politics,” warns the researcher.
The study published by the Delàs Center also focuses on the “proactive role of the military industry”. Among other milestones, the investigation indicates that in 2015 the European Commission created the High Level Group of Personalities in Defense Research with 16 members, “nine of whom represented the military industry.”
“It was no surprise that their conclusions pointed to strengthen Europe’s overall military position“says Calvo. Four years later, the European Commission created the General Directorate of Defense and Space Industry to support the European military industry.
The Delàs Center expert highlights that this “enormous involvement and the impact of European arms industries has been the result of an investment” by the main companies in that sector in Europe, among which are BAE Systems, Airbus, Thales, Leonardo, Rolls Royce, Naval Group, Rheinmentall, MBDA or Safran, among others.
“In 2020 alone we know that they allocated more than five million euros to 49 arms industry lobbyists, who held 327 meetings with European institutions on this matter,” says Calvo.
More weapons, more risks
Wendela de Vries, Dutch researcher and member of the European Network against Arms Tradeemphasizes for his part that “the abundant availability of weapons in a conflict situation increases the risk of a violent response”.
“Although the weapons imports are not a genuine cause of conflict, they significantly increase the likelihood of violence. Guns are not a deterrentbut they cause a
escalation of the conflict,” he points out in one of the chapters of the report.
Along these lines, De Vries defends that “limiting the arms trade will increase the chances of success of the nonviolent responses to conflicts.” However, “Europe is not only increasingly financing and supporting its arms industry, but is also violating the safeguards of peace and human rights in arms exports,” he highlights.
The most dangerous game
The Catalan researcher Tica Fontanother of those responsible for the report, highlights the inconsistencies involved talk about “deterrence” when facing conflicts and compares it to “a game of poker” in which you try to “make the opponent believe that your hand is very good and that he should abandon the game, that he should not continue betting or he will lose even more.” .
“In military terms, the deterrence strategy represents that it is not proposed as a strategy of military victory but as a strategy of coercion, of intimidation and generating fear of the harm that you may suffer as a motivating factor to avoid or influence the military and political strategy of your opponent,” explains Font.
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