Failing to put the bloc’s economy on a military footing would negatively affect Europe for generations to come, the Polish defense minister has said
The EU should shift to “war-mode” military production, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said, arguing that failing to do so would be a costly mistake for Europe.
The defense minister made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday. The conference has primarily revolved around the supposed threat Russia poses to the EU and the measures the bloc should take.
“I am actually an advocate for war-mode when it comes to production in the defense sector,” he said, claiming that Russia has already taken this approach and the EU “cannot overlook this fact.”
Failing to do so would be a costly mistake and would not only put the EU at a disadvantage now, but would “affect [the bloc] negatively in future generations,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
While Russia has expanded its defense budget and ramped up defense industry output, it has not shifted to a full-fledged wartime economy. A number of prominent Russian politicians and public figures have dismissed the idea, citing the implications it would bring.
“We constantly hear talk about the need to mobilize the entire economy, gear it up for war, and so on. But the modern economy is structured differently. If there is no civilian economy – no tax revenue, no household income – and the political situation changes drastically, then we will not achieve success in the war either,” Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said last month.
In recent years, Poland has emerged as one of the most rapidly militarizing EU nations, sharply increasing its defense spending. Warsaw has nearly met the 5% GDP military spending goal outlined by NATO, currently spending around 4.7%, according to the US envoy to NATO, Matthew Whitaker.
The EU militarization effort has already put a heavy strain on the economy, causing spending cuts elsewhere. The bloc is currently struggling to adopt its next long-term budget, with member states in disagreement over the proposed cuts to “global cooperation and competitiveness,” agriculture, and cohesion funding. The situation is further aggravated by the EU’s goal of phasing out affordable Russian energy, which includes ending purchases of Russian LNG by the end of the year and pipeline gas by autumn 2027.
