THE HAGUE, August 8. /TASS/. The course towards boosting military spending by EU countries may result in an economic disaster for them due to a sharp and significant reduction in spending on other areas, Dutch journalist and political scientist, founder of the Alternatief media portal, Ab Gietelink, told TASS.
"European countries are all striving to increase their defense spending, some are ready to spend up to 5% of GDP on it – this is hundreds of billions of euros. Of course, this means that much less money will be allocated to education, healthcare, and social infrastructure. This is a real economic disaster," he said. The only actor benefiting from Brussels' course towards militarization is the military-industrial complex, the expert added.
Gietelink also stressed that the majority of Europeans do not support the EU's course towards militarization and military support for Kiev.
"Rearmament is not what Europeans want. They feel that their governments, which think they can rule the world, have dragged their countries into someone else's conflict and are only increasing tensions through the arms race and arms supplies to Ukraine," he said.
In the spring of 2025, the EU took steps towards large-scale militarization – in particular, in March, at an emergency summit in Brussels, an ambitious rearmament plan ReArm EU for 800 billion euros was approved, providing for joint purchases of weapons and the use of funds from the program for depressed regions. Later, the EU Council approved the creation of a militarization fund (SAFE) in the amount of 150 billion euros as part of a long-term military buildup program until 2030. At the June NATO summit in The Hague, it was decided to increase the military spending of European states to 5% of GDP by 2034.