Serious questions arise over the Commission President’s unilateral decision to funnel public funds into the defence package.
As the USA and Russia cosy up to each other, Europe faces a crisis of security. However, as the Special European Council continues today in Brussels, 6 March, The Left has serious questions over Ursula Von der Leyen’s “ReArm Europe” plan. Who will pay and who will actually benefit?
On what mandate is the Commission President acting? Ursula von der Leyen claims she can mobilise 800 billion euros, but in using Article 122 to bypass the European Parliament, European citizens will once again be left out of the decision-making process. In the long-run, the opacity of the Commission President’s actions undermines European solidarity.
How will European citizens pay the price of this arms race? To put the President’s figures in perspective, these rearmament funds represent four years of the entire EU budget. 650 billion euros will depend on the willingness of Member States to invest in defence, while 150 billion euros will come from EU funds. This represents a huge portion of the budget allocated to cohesion policies, and is far more than what Europe has been willing to spend in over seven years to fight climate change.
Who stands to benefit? While European citizens are now less likely to see funding go to social programmes, poverty reduction or climate action, weapons manufacturers and arms dealers stand to benefit from billions of taxpayer funded subsidies. Stocks in weapons exporters BAE, Rheinmetall, Thales and Leonardo have skyrocketed in recent days. These companies don’t care about the fate of Ukraine. They care only about the highest bidder. The EU must put in place measures to ensure that ReArm doesn’t fuel conflicts in regions like the Middle East and further afield.
The Left will always stand for a diplomatic path over the military one. We continue to stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, as we have since Russia first brutally and illegally invaded sovereign Ukraine.
