Building our own defense capacity in Europe does not contradict in any way the commitments we have in NATO. On the contrary, the only way this can happen is in coordination with NATO.
This was stated by MEP and permanent member of the EP Committee on Security and Defense Andrey Novakov to FOCUS.
Poland currently spends 5% of GDP on defense, Bulgaria - 3%, and some countries - 1.5% each, he pointed out. "I believe that regardless of whether the European Investment Bank will start spending on defense, whether we will create an instrument similar to the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism that will invest in defense, or whether we will redirect money that is not used from the multiannual financial framework for defense – "It will happen, but it has to happen," said Novakov.
According to him, defense spending should be removed from the stability criteria of the member states and the Maastricht criteria. "We are in force majeure circumstances. The money from the PfP, where it cannot be used, should be able to be used to build a defense capacity. However, I am against using the money from the cohesion policy for defense. This is like demolishing a house and starting to build a new one with the bricks. The need to renovate public buildings and have normal highways has not disappeared", said the MEP from GERB/EPP.
The European Defense Fund currently has 8 billion euros, which, according to him, is extremely insufficient.
The European Defense Agency coordinates the defense of all member states. Andrey Novakov pointed out the reason for not having a single European army. "Any army that does not have intelligence is doomed to failure. There cannot be one European intelligence, since there are 27 countries with their own intelligence. Sharing such information is a very sensitive process. However, nothing prevents us from purchasing equipment together, conducting training together, coordinating, sharing responsibility", the MEP added.