Business Insider quotes Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security Visiting Fellow Lisa Aronsson on the challenges facing European militaries struggling to meet their commitments to NATO defense agreements:
“Germany would have to increase its military budget from roughly €37 billion ($42 billion) to over €74 billion ($84 billion) to meet the target,” Anthony writes. Lisa Aronsson, a visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council, echoed Anthony’s views in an online symposium, arguing that “duplication, poor readiness, and a lack of deployability,” are the biggest problems facing European militaries, and that increased spending won’t necessarily solve them.
The relative lack of military spending also frees NATO countries to spend on domestic programs, providing a social and economic baseline that could itself be a stabilizing factor in European affairs. But with Russia looming, the days of NATO’s “free rider” status might have to come to close.