Europeans overwhelmingly support increasing defense spending, polling showed ahead of a key NATO meeting this week.
Half of the respondents in a European Council on Foreign Relations survey said their country needs to boost defense spending, with just 24% opposing the move. NATO member states agreed Sunday to raise their defense spending to 5% of GDP, as demanded by the US, though Spain opted out; the new target is more than double what most currently spend.
However, stagnating growth across the region means many will struggle to invest more. “Russia was able to put Europe on the back foot precisely because of the continent’s failure to accept that economic security… is a prerequisite for national security,” Hadley Gamble wrote in a Semafor column.