BRUSSELS, July 30. /TASS/. European militaries are operating at just half the strength that NATO requires, European Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius said in an interview with the Euractiv news website.
According to him, European armies "are at 50% of what we need to have now, according to NATO's targets."
Euractiv points out that the European Commission is setting out plans to spend big on defense and encourage countries to borrow together to bolster their military procurement programs through initiatives such as SAFE, which aims to mobilize 150 billion euros in loans.
The EU defense chief also noted that in the fall, the European Commission intended to push forward with plans to build a European Defense Union, which would include Norway, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. This is when Kubilius is expected to brief the bloc's leaders on what they need to do by 2030 to make their militaries war-ready, the media outlet adds.