PARIS, February 10. /TASS/. The European Union needs to be ready to replace US strategic capabilities in Europe and create a real Defense Union, European Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius said.
"We need to be able to replace American strategic enablers with our own European ones. This should be our strategic priority. And we need to be ready to replace other conventional defense resources, placed by our transatlantic partners on the European continent. This is the first step towards our independence," he pointed out, addressing a European Parliament session in Strasbourg.
However, Kubilius noted that the EU intended to implement the plan in close cooperation with NATO. "Member states will spend 6.8 trillion euros on defense by 2035 if they fulfil their NATO pledges," he noted.
According to the official, the European defense industry needs to scale up its production lines "and produce, produce, produce." Kubilius stressed that Europe’s defense spending was expected to reach almost 700 billion euro annually in the next ten years, giving "a massive boost" to the EU’s competitiveness. That said, the European Commission expects that industrial militarization and rising defense spending will help enhance the EU’s economic growth.