Hark ye now, O despots of the world and enemies of freedom: as the American beacon of democracy fades, Europe stands ready and willing to take its place as the arsenal of democracy. ‘We have agreed on a strategy for fully re-arming and re-equipping Europe,’ tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday. ‘We will fully restore our independence in the coming five years.’
Take that, Trump and Putin! Europe is stepping up to defend Ukraine and defend itself. To that end, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week announced a ReArm Europe plan that could see up to €800 billion poured into the defence sector over the next four years.
Small problem: that little weasel word ‘could’ is carrying a lot of weight. For a start, that €800 billion is not actual money allocated by nations’ budgets but potential debt. Rather than divert money from regular spending, for instance, the EU has merely tweaked its borrowing rules to exclude defence investment.
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