European Union leaders have agreed that the 27-nation bloc must be fully capable of defending itself against a possible Russian attack by 2030, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.
“By 2030 Europe must be—in terms of army, weapons, technology—clearly stronger than Russia. And it will be,” he said.
Speaking after a summit of EU leaders that discussed the organization’s plan to step up defense readiness, Tusk said countries now spending less than others on defense had been reluctant to accept the five-year scheme proposed by the European Commission.
“Our position, shared with Denmark and Sweden, was that the more Russia has the advantage today, the more we have to hurry. We finally accepted, as the European Council, this commitment that by 2030, Europe must obtain full defense capabilities,” Tusk told a press conference.
Despite earlier resistance to the deadline from some countries, the continent is now stepping up spending on defense over concerns that the United States is increasingly shifting its focus to the Indo-Pacific.
While Washington has underwritten Europe’s security since the end of World War II, U.S. President Donald Trump has called for much higher spending on defense from its allies.
However, there is not a uniform attitude across EU nations on higher defense spending, especially for those far from the union’s eastern frontier.
“Behind the scenes ... it stirred some emotions,” Tusk told the press conference, referring to the reaction to Trump’s call for higher defense spending by EU nations. “Especially in countries that spend little on defense now. There are several large countries that still spend very little. And they don’t want to spend more. For now.”
Slovenia, Belgium, and Portugal also spend well below the required NATO GDP target on defense.
Tusk said the five-year deadline corresponded to an analysis by NATO head Mark Rutte that this was the amount of time Europe had before Moscow sufficiently rebuilt its offensive capabilities after losses it had suffered in Ukraine.
However, he clarified that this did not mean Europe expected an attack by Russia in 2030.
“It is key that Europe be really capable to defend itself and deter Putin,” Tusk said.
“Or, it is less about defending and more about showing—through facts, and decisions—that Putin’s Russia does not stand a chance against Europe that is united and well-armed. It is the only effective method to avoid a war.”
Tusk’s statement comes just days after Poland, along with the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, announced plans to pull out of the international treaty banning landmines.
The quartet of nations on NATO’s eastern flank cited the threat from Russia as the reason for withdrawing from the treaty, which was signed in the Canadian capital of Ottawa in 1997 and came into force in 1999.
In a joint statement, the four countries’ defense ministers said that since the agreement had been ratified, the security situation in their region “has fundamentally deteriorated.”
Warsaw has subsequently stated that it has put the wheels in motion to resume production of anti-personnel mines.
“Obtaining the ability to produce these mines is a task for the arms industry,” Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told a press conference, adding that he had information that there was readiness to do so.
