Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Germany urged the European Union to focus on specific ideas for defence spending, rather than abstract concepts like Eurobonds.
German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said that the European Union should discuss specific ideas on European defence instead of conceptual ones like European defence bonds. “We think that’s better than abstract discussions about Eurobonds for defence financing,” Kukies expressed before a meeting of euro area finance ministers.
Prompted by Russia’s war in Ukraine and worries that the United States may decrease its commitments to European security, many European leaders have expressed the continent needs to spend more on protecting itself. But the question of how to finance big defence spending increases remains unresolved.
Germany has in the past been among European Union members that have resisted the idea of joint EU borrowing to support key investments in areas such as defence, a situation that has frustrated policymakers in other capitals.
Kukies uttered “concrete examples” such as the European Peace Facility, an off-budget EU instrument for security, or the thought of the European Investment Bank doing more in the scope of dual-use goods. “We have a very strong preference to focus on these specific ideas rather than speaking abstractly about euro bonds where nobody knows exactly what they mean, what they will be used for,” Kukies stated.
