Budget: EU Commission urges Member States not to cut the 131 billion euros for defence and space

Brussels – Member States should at least safeguard funding for defence and space. Amid the ongoing debate on the next multiannual financial framework (MFF 2028–2034), characterised by national governments’ desire to cut virtually all contributions towards the running of the Union, a plea has emerged that sounds like a desperate appeal: to at least safeguard one area of expenditure, the one currently perceived as the most urgent.

The first to put forward the policy proposal is Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Speaking at the International Space Summit in Paris, she recalled that in the proposed joint budget of around 2 trillion euros, “we proposed an allocation of €131 billion for defence, security and space“, which is “five times the amount of funds currently available.” According to von der Leyen, “we must maintain our ambition and get this across the line. Because – again – the technologies we finance today will determine our competitiveness tomorrow.”

 It is a clear call, though not quite as explicit as that made by the Commissioner for Defence, Andrius Kubilius, who, from the same podium just a few hours later, addressed the Heads of State and Government directly: “I urge Member States to support our budget proposal: our security depends on it.” 

Kubilius is trying to play both sides of the game, though they are interconnected: on the one hand, Russia; on the other, the completion of the single market. He stressed the threat posed by the Kremlin, and the practical demonstration provided by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict that “war on the ground depends on space.” There is therefore an aspect of defence against immediate and future threats that strengthens the need for a new approach to space policy: “We have national systems, but they are slow and fragmented.” This is a situation that the European Commission intends to remedy with its communication on a space shield, which will be presented “soon”, Kubilius said. 

The real issue to be resolved, the real question that is impossible to ignore, however, is that “money is needed for space.” Kubilius makes this point very clearly. This is the reason behind the call to exclude the 131 billion euros earmarked for defence from discussions on budget cuts.