As the US walks away from Ukraine and seeks a deal with Russia, Europe has to put its money where its mouth is and therein lies the problem, says international security expert Stefan Wolff.
File photo. Daily newspapers with covers, dedicated to the recent phone call of Russia n President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, are laid out at a newsstand in a street in Moscow, Russia , Feb 13, 2025. BIRMINGHAM: The last week has left European leaders in little doubt that they will be mostly on their own when it comes to Ukraine .on the future of the country, in the absence of both Ukraine itself and Europe.
For these past 80 years, the bill for European security has mostly been footed by Washington - to the displeasure of US President Donald Trump.- despite significant increases - is still dwarfed by America’s. The US committed over US$900 billion in 2024, while Germany is Europe’s largest defence spender with less than US$90 billion.
However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not yet given any details about the troops he is prepared to commit to Ukraine. And with the size of the British army now below 80,000 soldiers and reportedly fewer than 20,000 ready to deploy in combat, he will be hard-pressed to deploy them in significant numbers.
There is an emerging “coalition of the willing” who are determined to invest in the continent’s defences to deter Russia from future aggression and provide Ukraine with badly needed security guarantees. This coalition shapes up to be a mix of the Weimar+ group, those countries and institutions invited to the emergency meeting in Paris on Monday and NATO’s other Baltic member states.
And even if they were, their ability to act fast and decisively is hampered by the financial constraints they face. Several countries are highly indebted, including France, Italy and Spain which have a government debt greater than its country’s gross domestic product. The time for muddling through with temporary fixes to deep structural problems is well and truly over given that the ultimate US backstop to European security seems to be disappearing before our eyes.
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