The defence of Europe’s borders looks set to play a key role in elections on both sides of the Atlantic this year. With Republican Party nominee Donald Trump threatening to let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to Nato members who fail to meet defence spending pledges, the EU’s senior leaders seem to have heeded that call.
European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month that Europe needs “to turbocharge our defence industrial capacity in the next five years”.
“Europe must spend more, spend better, spend European,” she said, while also pledging to appoint a defence tsar if she is returned as commissioner in June.