Germany and UK want more European defence spending
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today defended the importance of increasing military spending in Europe in the face of global insecurity.
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"We need to 'strengthen the European pillar of NATO in order to have sufficient deterrence' against potential aggressors," Scholz said in a joint appearance in Berlin, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
Read Also: Sunak wants to increase the UK's defence budget to 2.5% by 2030 (Portuguese version)
Scholz and Sunak reiterated at the end of a meeting in Berlin the importance of supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia "for as long as necessary."
The chancellor said that Germany is the European country that has provided the largest volume of weapons to Ukraine since the beginning of the war, worth around 28 billion euros.
According to Scholz, the German budget this year to help Ukraine amounts to seven billion euros.
"Without security, nothing works," Scholz said.
He said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago has called into question Europe's security architecture and the international consensus that borders should not be changed by force.
Scholz therefore called on all European countries to take the "necessary decisions", taking into account the economic situation of each country.
"We have no choice but to invest more in defence, whether we like it or not. The world has become more dangerous," Sunak agreed.
The British Prime Minister announced plans on Tuesday to increase defence spending to 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), up from the current 2.3%.
Sunak said that the United States, NATO's largest contributor, cannot be expected to "pay any price, bear any burden" if Europe is not willing to make "sacrifices and investments."
He said that the UK's increase in defence spending does not jeopardise pledges to cut taxes and invest in health and education.
He argued that the British economy is growing and savings can be made in other areas.
The two leaders said they had agreed to set up a working group to review the frameworks for security cooperation between Germany and the United Kingdom.
According to a document released by the Chancellery after the meeting, Scholz and Sunak decided to deepen cooperation in the field of defence, both at the operational and military levels.
The cooperation includes the promotion of Eurofighter fighter jets and the joint acquisition of RCH 155 howitzers.
Scholz and Sunak also pledged to better coordinate the training of Ukrainian soldiers, as well as to promote the German initiative to provide additional air defences to Kiev.
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