February 27, 2024
Europe must spend more on defense to deter Russia, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with Financial Times on Feb. 27.
She called Europe “naive,” for not doing it sooner.
“We have been too naive, and in the western part of the world we have been too focused on getting richer, and therefore we also have built up dependencies on countries that we should not be dependent on – gas from Russia, and new technologies from China,” she told Financial Times.
Several NATO commanders and other alliance leaders have warned in increasingly stark terms about the dangers of a direct war with Russia and the impact it could have across Europe.
EU leaders are also concerned about Russia targeting Moldova or Georgia in case of a victory in Ukraine.
According to Frederiksen, Europe must avoid past mistakes, recalling Denmark and other states cutting their military budgets since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
Frederiksen said that limiting its social spending and taxes and scaling up its defense industry must be a top priority in confronting Russia, which is getting “more aggressive.”
Denmark and Ukraine have signed a 10-year agreement on security cooperation. Denmark is the first non-G7 country to finalize the deal.
Denmark and the Netherlands also lead the allied efforts to provide Ukraine with the fourth-generation F-16 jets.
https://kyivindependent.com/danish-pm-criticizes-europes-naivety-in-confronting-russias-aggression
“We have been too naive, and in the western part of the world we have been too focused on getting richer, and therefore we also have built up dependencies on countries that we should not be dependent on – gas from Russia, and new technologies from China,”
Europe not only had been too naive, in many ways it still is. This goes especially for some countries, like Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, and even Germany. France is moving up in the courage department with Macron’s statement about NATO troops in Ukraine and wanting long-range fires to be sent to the country. But, France must up the military aid a lot. Despite Germany’s massive increase of military aid to Ukraine during the past half year, or so, Scholz is definitely the wrong person in the wrong position at the wrong time.
Yes we can only hope this new awareness is real and not just more hot air, it lasts long enough to actually see an increase in European defense spending and revitalization of their military industrial base, and it will not be too late for Ukraine.
I think that for some this war has been a real eye-opener, while for others, sleep is still deep, and the rest are just plain confused.