Poland proffers common defense financing as panacea for arming Europe

WARSAW, Poland — As European nations seek more self-reliance in weapon procurement, a new intergovernmental initiative dubbed the European Defence Mechanism (EDM) could pave the way for closer integration of the continent’s fragmented defense industries, according to a recent report by Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

The study was commissioned by Poland, a European Union member state which holds the rotating presidency of the bloc’s council for the first six months of 2025. The report was presented to the EU’s Ministers for Economic and Financial Affairs at an April meeting in Polish capital Warsaw, involving 27 governments in the ensuing debate.

One of its key findings is that better-integrated European defense markets could both stimulate competition and make it easier for new defense companies to launch products. Combining integrated markets and scaled-up procurement could facilitate halving unit costs, according to the think tank.

By pooling demand for military gear and enforcing common standards, European partners can achieve reduced costs, but also incentivize the continent’s industry players to grow, Guntram Wolff, a senior fellow at Bruegel and a co-author of the report, told Defense News.

“We need to work on a European defense funding mechanism for a deeper integration of markets across the European Economic Area. If we don’t to that, we will have fragmented markets with national producers supplying to small domestic markets, and the economic cost is going to be very high for individual products,” Wolff said.

“Expensive products, such as modern fighter jets, will not be developed by individual countries,” he added.

At the same time, future discussions on the EDM will be shaped by institutional and political challenges, Wolff said. This is because certain EU member states have constitutional constraints that could stop them from participating in similar mechanisms, and some governments do not want to engage in defense cooperation with other EU partners.

“It is a political question whether to include non-EU countries in this proposed mechanism, one that would need to be answered by the governments of EU member states,” the researcher said. “Countries such as the UK and Norway, or even Turkey and, outside Europe, Canada could decide that they want to engage their defense industries in this form of cooperation.”

A spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of National Defence told Defense News that the ongoing talks on the EDM are led by the country’s Ministry of Finance, indicating that the discussions are mostly related to the financial aspects of the proposed mechanism.

“Together with EU finance ministers, we discussed what I believe is the most pressing issue right now in Europe: security and defense financing,” Andrzej Domański, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, said in a statement released by the Polish presidency.

“We welcome the ReArm Europe Plan, the most ambitious defense plan so far presented by the European Commission, with an up to €150 billion [$170.5 billion] loan mechanism and a greater flexibility in EU fiscal rules.”

Since Russia launched a war against Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has boosted defense spending to expand its military and arm it with modern weapons. For 2025, the country’s government aims to allocate a total of PLN 186.6 billion ($49.6 billion) to defense. With the country’s military expenditure expected to reach an estimated 4.7 percent of its gross domestic product this year, Poland has established itself as one of the alliance’s top spenders.

In response to the new foreign policy course in Washington, officials in Warsaw have doubled down on Poland’s commitment to defense cooperation with the United States.

A large share of the nation’s defense budget finances major purchases of weapons from Washington, including the ongoing programs to acquire F-35 fighters jets , Boeing AH-64D copters , M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks , and Patriot air defense batteries , among others.

At the same time, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has declared his Cabinet aims to tighten defense cooperation with EU partners, as well as key European allies such as the U.K. and Turkey, securing weapons and military technology from these countries.

By promoting discussions on the EDM, Warsaw aims to push the bloc’s defense industries towards more joint projects such as the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative , a continent-wide project to coordinate nations’ air defense-related acquisitions and procedures.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——据总部位于布鲁塞尔的智库布鲁盖尔研究所最近的一份报告显示，随着欧洲各国寻求在武器采购方面更加自力更生，一项名为“欧洲防务机制”（EDM）的新政府间倡议可能会为欧洲大陆分散的国防工业的更紧密一体化铺平道路。

这项研究由波兰委托进行，波兰是欧盟成员国，在2025年的前六个月担任欧盟理事会轮值主席国。该报告于4月在波兰首都华沙举行的欧盟经济和财政部长会议上提交，随后27个成员国政府参与了讨论。

该智库的一项重要发现是，更紧密一体化的欧洲国防市场既能刺激竞争，又能使新兴国防企业更容易推出产品。该智库认为，整合市场和扩大采购规模相结合，有助于将单位成本降低一半。

布鲁盖尔研究所高级研究员、该报告的合著者贡特拉姆·沃尔夫告诉《防务新闻》：“通过集中对军事装备的需求并强制执行共同标准，欧洲合作伙伴不仅可以降低成本，还可以激励欧洲大陆的工业参与者发展壮大。”

沃尔夫表示：“我们需要建立欧洲防务融资机制，以深化欧洲经济区各市场的融合。如果我们不这样做，市场就会碎片化，各国生产商只能向规模较小的国内市场供货，而单个产品的经济成本将会非常高。”

他还补充说：“像现代战斗机这样的昂贵产品，不会由单个国家单独研发。”

沃尔夫表示，与此同时，未来关于欧洲防务机制的讨论将受到体制和政治挑战的影响。这是因为某些欧盟成员国受到宪法限制，可能无法参与类似的机制，而且一些国家的政府也不愿与其他欧盟伙伴开展防务合作。

“是否将非欧盟国家纳入这一拟议机制是一个政治问题，需要欧盟成员国政府来回答，”这位研究人员说。“像英国和挪威这样的国家，甚至土耳其，以及欧洲以外的加拿大，都可能决定让本国国防工业参与这种形式的合作。”

波兰国防部发言人告诉《防务新闻》，目前正在进行的关于欧洲防务机制的谈判由该国财政部牵头，这表明讨论主要与拟议机制的财政方面有关。

波兰副总理兼财政部长安杰伊·多曼斯基在波兰轮值主席国发布的一份声明中表示：“我们与欧盟财长们一起讨论了我认为目前欧洲最紧迫的问题：安全和国防融资。”

“我们欢迎欧盟委员会迄今为止提出的最雄心勃勃的国防计划——‘重整欧洲计划’，该计划包含高达 1500 亿欧元（1705 亿美元）的贷款机制，并赋予欧盟财政规则更大的灵活性。”

自俄罗斯于2022年2月对乌克兰发动战争以来，波兰大幅增加了国防开支，以扩充军力并为其配备现代化武器。波兰政府计划到2025年将国防开支总额提高至1866亿兹罗提（约合496亿美元）。预计今年波兰的军费开支将达到国内生产总值的4.7%，使其成为北约成员国中军费开支最高的国家之一。

针对华盛顿新的外交政策方针，华沙官员加倍强调波兰致力于与美国开展防务合作。

国家国防预算的很大一部分用于从华盛顿购买大量武器，包括正在进行的采购 F-35 战斗机、波音 AH-64D 直升机、M1A2 艾布拉姆斯 SEPv3 坦克和爱国者防空导弹系统等项目。

与此同时，波兰总理唐纳德·图斯克宣布，他的内阁旨在加强与欧盟伙伴以及英国和土耳其等主要欧洲盟友的防务合作，从这些国家获取武器和军事技术。

通过推动对欧洲防务备忘录的讨论，华沙旨在推动欧盟国防工业开展更多联合项目，例如由德国主导的“欧洲天空之盾”倡议，这是一个旨在协调各国防空相关采购和程序的全欧项目。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。