Admission from the Finnish Prime Minister: Without the USA, Europe would be in trouble

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Revealing the weaknesses of Europe, he said that alone it cannot oppose Moscow during the war in Ukraine

“I have to be completely honest with you, Europe is not strong enough right now, we would be in trouble without the United States,” said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, effectively admitting Europe’s weaknesses.

As he said, Europe alone cannot oppose Moscow during the war in Ukraine.

“The United States has given a lot in arms, in financial aid, in humanitarian aid to Ukraine but Europe is still not strong enough. It builds these capabilities in terms of European defence, European defense industry and ensures that we can cope with different kinds of situations.” As he said Europe must ensure that “we also strengthen the capabilities of European defence, the European defense industry and that we are able to deal with different kinds of situations”, he stressed speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney today.

The US is by far the largest provider of military aid to Ukraine. Since the start of the war last February, it has allocated €17.7 billion according to the UK House of Commons. Next is the EU and then the UK. But their contributions are much smaller than those of the US.

With European countries’ military stockpiles running low as they supply Ukraine, the Finnish prime minister has argued that more needs to be done to boost European defences.

It is estimated that in 2020, the US spent over 3.7% of its GDP on defense – while the average for European NATO members (and Canada) was 1.77%.

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