EU increased confronting Russian threats' cost to 20 billion euros

NEWS DESK

The European Union announced on Wednesday that it plans to spend about 20 billion euros on defense in its next long-term budget amid the EU's efforts to strengthen its position in the face of the potential threats from Russia.

After decades of failed attempts, EU member states signed a defensive cooperation pact in December after Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014, and the allegations of state-sponsored information attacks.

The European Commission which is the EU's executive arm has launched plans to allocate 19.5 billion euros to defend its budget of 1,279 trillion euros in 2021-2027 according to France Press.

This sum of money includes $ 6.5 billion for the military mobility; an ambitious project that makes it easier to move the troops and equipment across the continent and NATO’s military commanders say that it is necessary to put a strong deterrent against any potential aggressors.

An amount of 8.9 billion euros will be allocated to help the EU countries to cooperate to produce large military equipment such as tanks and helicopters.

Only three countries have refused to sign the defensive cooperation agreement; Denmark, Malta and Britain which will quit the EU next year.

Brussels tried to emphasize that increasing the defensive cooperation would not create an EU army, and that the project would be considered a complement for NATO rather than a rival.

A.H

ANHA