Europe’s defense armour, in the face of Russian revisionism and Vladimir Putin’s threatening declarations, even of World War III with the use of nuclear weapons, is coming to the fore again, with the need to review aid and financing policies seeming more necessary than ever. .

THE Kyriakos Mitsotakis he directly raised the question of strengthening the European defense industry so that Europe has solutions for every eventuality.

The Greek prime minister proposed the creation of a Eurobond exclusively for the financing of the defense industry, officially opening the debate on a major, as is developing issue for the Old Continent, as Russia’s war of expansion in Ukraine has been going on for more than two years.

“If Europe wants to shield itself defensively, it will have to consider new ways of financing defense spending, and I am referring to the possibility of issuing Eurobonds exclusively for its defense shielding,” said the prime minister.

He also emphasized that the discussion on the way in which Europe will be able to secure its strategic autonomy in practice has returned to the table.

“This means”, he added, “more investments in equipment, while emphasizing that Greece has been exceeding the limit of 2% of defense spending as a percentage of GDP for decades, which is not the case with other European countries”.

“The time has come to be able to surround the very ambitious discussions we are having about the need for Europe, at the European level, to be able to ensure the defense and security of all European citizens with substantial content. And I hope that today’s Council will be an opportunity to start a meaningful discussion around these issues” he characteristically said.

The proposal of Kyriakos Mitsotakis found a response from several partners in Summit meeting held in Brussels. France and Italy “came forward”, enthusiastically supporting the Greek Prime Minister’s proposal.

However, for the umpteenth time, Europe of the “27” presented… divided, as Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria declared their opposition.

According to sources, at this stage it is not expected that the leaders of Europe will reach a common text regarding the European defense industry. The same sources, however, expressed their satisfaction on two points:

1) That the Greek proposal has allies and powerful ones,

2) Because the topic was put on the table and the discussion started.

As the sources say, patience and gradual steps towards a strong European defense industry are required. It is emphasized that the events that will follow in the world, apart from the European elections, are expected to determine the developments and possibly speed up the procedures.

An important parameter that is noted as a determining factor in the developments, is the war in Ukraine itself and the outcome it will receive in the next period.

A second parameter that is likely to determine or accelerate developments in the European defense industry concerns the elections in the USA and a possible election – return – of Donald Trump in the White House.

The American politician and businessman has openly raised the issue of defense and funding within NATO, going so far as to threaten that the US, during his presidency, will consider supporting Europe militarily.