Europe's expenses for defense are reduced despite the war in Ukraine: who spends the most

Some countries are just talking about increasing military spending. And only from the moment of a full -scale invasion of Ukraine began to spend about 4% of gross domestic product. Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, defense costs in European countries do not increase and are slightly higher than average. And political intrigues and troubles in industry interfere with rapid increase in potential and limit supply to Ukraine.

The Defense One was told about how much they spend on defense in Europe and who is the leader in military assistance to Ukraine. According to a market research conducted by McKinsey, defense costs in Europe have increased by 4% over the last ten years, and in the next five years it can increase by more than 6% per year. However, the report does not specify whether these figures were adjusted in accordance with inflation.

"Such rates mean that many years will take many years before many NATO countries have reached the norm, according to which the Alliance members have to spend at least two percent of gross domestic product on defense," experts said. Meanwhile, falling costs is not the only problem. According to the McKinsey report, more than 60% of European weapons are operated in only one country, which makes them more complex and more expensive to maintain and supply ammunition.

However, there are European leaders in this aspect - Poland. It spends about 4% of the gross domestic product on defense. "The European Union, pushed by Estonia, has launched a new scheme of joint purchases, which provides for the allocation of 2 billion euros for increasing production of 155 mm shells for Ukraine," the observers write. At the same time, there are countries that just declare their desire to spend more money on defense.

For example, Italy voted in favor of increasing defense costs to two percent of the gross domestic product, and Germany announced the creation of a fund of 100 billion euros for defense procurement in 2022. But such statements do not produce results. "One thing is when a political statement about increasing funding is made. Another thing is when these funds are allocated and brought to industry," McKinsey's partner Christian Rodriguez stressed.

Because of this, there are problems for the increase of production lines necessary for the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, where everything, from shells to tanks, is used in the volumes unprecedented in Europe since the Second World War. The position of European governments is due to the fact that the authorities want to gain confidence in the conclusion of many years of contracts with weapons manufacturers, and those, in turn, understand that the government seeks cheaper decisions.