Towards a Shared European Defence Spending Strategy

The Brussels Institute for Geopolitics hosted a closed-door roundtable on 6 June 2025 bringing together senior officials and experts from EU institutions, NATO, national governments and industry to reflect on Europe’s evolving approach to defence financing and keeping Europeans safe in an increasingly hostile world. 

The discussion, held under Chatham House rules, came at a moment of growing recognition that Europe’s security ambitions must be matched by serious budgetary powers and coherent governance. Drawing on themes from the Institute’s recent discussion paper ‘Budgetary Politics in Times of War’, the exchange was steered by BIG’s founding Director Luuk van Middelaar with input from Claude France Arnould, BIG’s Senior Fellow for European Defence and  Vestert Borger, Fellow for European Constitutional Politics.  As the policymaking discussion these past few months focused on raising revenue, this roundtable shed light on two overlooked questions: how to spend the money effectively and who is ultimately responsible for European decision-making on defence. 

Participants explored recent developments such as the ‘Security and Action for Europe’ (SAFE) initiative, additional funding sources for defence at EU level, as well as debt financing, acknowledging both the potential and limitations. There was broad agreement that while joint borrowing tools may unlock new resources, turning budgets into real capabilities without duplication remains a challenge in a landscape where European states often perceive threats differently. Achieving meaningful progress will require clearer priorities, stronger incentives for cooperation and a strategic driving force at European level to navigate divergent national interests. 

The conversation also touched on deeper institutional questions, drawing on the experience of Europe’s emergency response to the Euro crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. As new financial instruments emerge, so too do questions of governance, how decisions are made, on the basis of which criteria projects are evaluated and what role national and European institutions should play. The balance between emergency responsiveness and long-term budgetary programming through the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) was a recurring theme and how they can potentially be combined for more strategic spending. 

The roundtable highlighted the growing need to think across traditional silos—between defence, finance and industry perspectives—and to develop a more integrated approach to Europe’s strategic capacity. It follows a recent discussion with Clément Beaune, French High Commissioner for Strategy and Planning, on a shared European framework for financing defence and a high-level breakfast in February exploring the state of the transatlantic relationship and the future of Europe’s security architecture. 

The event forms part of a series of ‘safe space’ discussions that provide a forum for frank exchange across sectors and areas of expertise. The findings are set to support ongoing research and inform future publications at BIG on European defence readiness.