The plan for rearmament of Europe, adopted at the EU summit in Brussels on March 6, will lead to Germany creating the largest army on the continent since World War II. This was stated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, speaking at the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry with a speech on economic issues.
He noted that the plan approved by all 27 members of the community envisages the formation of a package worth 800 billion EUR, which is aimed at strengthening defense, improving the armed forces and developing the military industry of EU countries. According to it, "the German army will be the largest" in Europe, Orbán said. "We have not seen anything like this since World War II. The big question is how Russia and America will react to this“, the head of government believes.
According to him, the implementation of such a plan should be carried out largely through state loans, and this could lead to an increase in the deficit of national budgets above the established level, which would be a violation of the Maastricht agreements on the formation of the EU. “The entire European Union could sink into debt. Hungary's basic law does not allow this, so there will still be a debate here“, Orbán warned.
Currently, France has the largest army in Europe. Its population exceeds 200,000 people. The armed forces of Germany number just over 180,000 servicemen. Among European countries, Italy and the United Kingdom follow in this indicator.
At the summit on March 6, EU leaders supported the European Commission's ReArm EU plan, but did not approve the instruments proposed by the European Commission for its loan financing in the amount of EUR 800 billion for the period until 2029. The financial part of the plan has been returned for revision.
On March 4, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that she had presented a plan for rearmament of the community in the amount of EUR 800 billion. It envisages that EU countries will borrow up to EUR 150 billion for defense. The European Commission will borrow this money on the capital markets and then lend it to countries on the condition that they jointly buy weapons from Europe. These funds will be used in particular for the production of air defense systems and weapons for Ukraine.
The EC also proposed an increase in defense spending by 1.5% to raise another EUR 650 billion for weapons production. This money should be attracted in the form of state loans from the EU countries themselves. In addition, the European Commission allowed funds from the EU's program to assist depressed regions to be directed to the development of the military industry, which caused objections from a number of countries, including Italy.
Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Orbán also touched on Hungary's security, noting that it “has nothing to worry about“ in this regard, as its security is guaranteed by its participation in NATO. According to him, Hungary has nothing to fear when its allies are countries such as the United States and Turkey, which have large and well-equipped armed forces.
Speaking about relations with the United States, the head of government confirmed that Hungary expects the two countries to conclude a strategic agreement on economic matters. Budapest hopes that the deal will help the Hungarian economy overcome the difficult times that may come after the Donald Trump administration raised tariffs on European goods. Budapest sees the immediate task as restoring the agreement to avoid double taxation, which the Joe Biden administration refused to extend.