The EU’s fresh designs for funding a defense resurgence, explained

BERLIN — The European Union is gearing up to boost defense spending across the continent amid the threat from Russia and fears of a wavering U.S. commitment, creating or expanding avenues for funding defense projects through EU-level institutions.

The collection of small moves aimed at steering the Brussels bureaucracy towards defense outcomes effectively erodes a longstanding taboo, as the bloc’s foundational texts were interpreted as leaving military spending entirely to member nations.

The funds newly made available for research and development and potentially for military procurement could reach into the billions of euros, according to analysts. The reshuffling of EU decision-makers through elections this year has the potential to strengthen these trends.

The watershed moment came in the form of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, bringing war to the doorstep of the European project. Since then, most EU countries have increased their national defense budgets. Meanwhile, leaders in Brussels looked for ways to supplement the capitals’ efforts.

For example, the bloc leveraged its resources to set in motion a joint purchase of ammunition for Ukraine in a €500 million ($537 million) package just four days after the invasion commenced. It marked the first time in history that the EU purchased lethal weapons. Since then, Brussels has mobilized €11.1 billion ($11.9 billion) on Ukraine’s behalf.

The inanely named European Peace Facility, under which the defense-financing scheme is playing out, has emerged as a key mechanism. Formed in 2021, it’s effectively an account outside the regular books, which means it faces fewer restrictions on what it can be used for.

Meanwhile, the European Investment Bank has loosened its rules on lending for military projects. The bank provides favorable loans and technical assistance to European companies to foster home-grown innovation. Until April of this year, the bank could only fund projects that would receive more than half of their revenue from civilian uses. While the bank still won’t fund purely military initiatives, the scrapping of the fifty-percent rule, encouraged by the EU’s member states in March and then swiftly implemented, has opened the door to funding technologies that may be primarily of military use.

“Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine has made it clear that we need to reinforce Europe´s security and defense industry,” an EIB spokesperson told Defense News in an email. “As the financial arm of the EU, we must contribute to ensuring Europe’s peace and security.”

The bank’s president, Nadia Calviño, has declared defense and security a “strategic priority,” saying in February that the bank was ready to play a more active role.

More red tape was cut with the implementation of a “one-stop shop,” as she put it – a dedicated office to work with defense-related companies seeking the bank’s financial support.

While far from a replacement for national spending, the bank’s funds are significant. The EIB has set itself a target of funding €8 billion ($7.51 billion) through its Strategic European Security Initiative until the end of 2027, of which it has already disbursed €2 billion ($2.15 billion) in the program’s first two years.

The spokesperson, who asked to remain unnamed to be able to speak more freely, said that the bank’s managers expect key areas for funding through this avenue will include quantum computing, semiconductors, space, materials, biodefence, autonomous systems and sensing technologies.

Even more backing is now possible through indirect funding – equity, securitization, and guarantee products by the bank and its subsidiaries – following a revision of the rules in early May, the spokesperson added.

The EIB’s new clout in the security sphere – even if still ostensibly with the aim of developing civilian technologies – is in addition to existing EU money sources like European Defence Fund, which provides an additional €8 billion available to national governments until 2027.

On the procurement side, there has been talk about repurposing the European Stability Mechanism – created to assist struggling countries and stabilize the Eurozone – to be able to provide defense-related funding, potentially even for purchasing military equipment by Eurozone countries.

ESM Managing Director Pierre Gramegna has advocated for the idea publicly and privately. He indicated there had been considerable interest across the continent, though unanimity is needed to reform the fund.

“I have been reaching out to countries … by visiting the 20 member countries of the euro area, which are the 20 members of the ESM, to get views on how we could make the ESM in the future even more meaningful, especially in the times of external crisis,” Gramegna said at a Eurogroup meeting in March of this year.

The most notable holdout remains Italy, which calls the ESM obsolete and has blocked any recent attempts to reform it. “The point of Italy is to say we need an ESM that can be used on more occasions. Now, on one issue where we have already a solution, they are unfortunately not yet convinced,” Gramega said in an interview with NBC.

The ESM functions like an intergovernmental treaty, thereby putting it outside of the defense caveats associated with the EU budget. It is conceivable, for example, that the mechanism could dole out cheap cash for the procurement of weapons. At €422 billion ($453 billion), the lending capacity of the ESM is far greater than any EU country’s military budget.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has been campaigning for a second term, has pledged to install for the first time a commissioner for defense following her reelection, a move that could further jolt the bloc’s defense and security muscles.

Still, some insiders believe the pace of change will be slow, and there are still differing opinions about what the defense of Ukraine means for Europe.

“Things usually only happen fast if there is a super crisis which is not the case right now,” said Manica Hauptmann, political head of the Representation of the European Commission in Berlin. “It’s super open how these discussions will develop.”

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——面对俄罗斯的威胁以及对美国承诺动摇的担忧，欧盟正准备增加整个欧洲大陆的国防开支，并通过欧盟层面的机构创建或扩大为国防项目提供资金的途径。

一系列旨在引导布鲁塞尔官僚机构朝着国防方向发展的微小举措，有效地打破了一个长期存在的禁忌，因为欧盟的创始文本被解读为将军事开支完全留给了成员国。

分析人士称，新近拨付的用于研发以及可能用于军事采购的资金可能高达数十亿欧元。今年欧盟选举带来的决策者改组，有可能进一步强化这些趋势。

2022年2月底，俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰，将战争带到了欧洲一体化进程的家门口，这成为了一个转折点。此后，大多数欧盟国家都增加了国防预算。与此同时，布鲁塞尔的领导人也在寻求各种途径来补充各国首都的国防努力。

例如，欧盟利用自身资源，在入侵开始仅四天后，就启动了一项价值5亿欧元（5.37亿美元）的联合采购计划，为乌克兰购买弹药。这标志着欧盟历史上首次购买致命性武器。此后，布鲁塞尔已代表乌克兰调动了111亿欧元（119亿美元）的资金。

这个名为“欧洲和平基金”的机构，作为国防融资机制的运作基础，已成为一项关键机制。该机构成立于2021年，实际上是一个独立于正规账簿之外的账户，这意味着其用途受到的限制较少。

与此同时，欧洲投资银行放宽了对军事项目贷款的规定。该银行向欧洲企业提供优惠贷款和技术援助，以促进本土创新。今年4月之前，该银行只能资助那些超过一半收入来自民用领域的项目。虽然该银行仍然不会资助纯粹的军事项目，但欧盟成员国在3月份推动并迅速实施的“50%规则”的取消，为资助那些可能主要用于军事用途的技术打开了大门。

欧洲投资银行一位发言人在给《防务新闻》的电子邮件中表示：“不幸的是，乌克兰战争清楚地表明，我们需要加强欧洲的安全和国防工业。作为欧盟的金融机构，我们必须为确保欧洲的和平与安全做出贡献。”

该银行行长纳迪亚·卡尔维尼奥 (Nadia Calviño) 已宣布国防和安全是“战略重点”，她在 2 月份表示，该银行已准备好发挥更积极的作用。

正如她所说，通过实施“一站式服务”，进一步简化了繁文缛节——设立了一个专门的办公室，与寻求银行财政支持的国防相关公司合作。

尽管远不能取代国家支出，但欧洲投资银行的资金数额巨大。该行已设定目标，通过其“欧洲战略安全倡议”在2027年底前筹集80亿欧元（75.1亿美元）的资金，其中在该计划的前两年已拨付了20亿欧元（21.5亿美元）。

这位要求匿名以便更自由发言的发言人表示，该银行的管理人员预计，通过这一渠道获得资金的关键领域将包括量子计算、半导体、太空、材料、生物防御、自主系统和传感技术。

发言人补充说，随着 5 月初规则的修订，现在可以通过间接融资（银行及其子公司的股权、证券化和担保产品）提供更多支持。

欧洲投资银行在安全领域的新影响力——即使表面上仍是为了发展民用技术——是对现有欧盟资金来源（如欧洲防务基金）的补充，该基金在 2027 年之前向各国政府提供额外的 80 亿欧元资金。

在采购方面，有人谈到要重新调整欧洲稳定机制（该机制旨在帮助陷入困境的国家并稳定欧元区）的用途，使其能够提供与国防相关的资金，甚至有可能用于欧元区国家购买军事装备。

欧洲稳定机制（ESM）总裁皮埃尔·格拉梅尼亚曾公开和私下倡导这一想法。他表示，整个欧洲大陆对此都表现出了浓厚的兴趣，但改革该基金仍需各方达成一致意见。

“我一直在与各国接触……通过访问欧元区的20个成员国，也就是欧洲稳定机制的20个成员国，来了解我们如何才能使欧洲稳定机制在未来更加有意义，尤其是在外部危机时期，”格拉梅尼亚在今年3月的欧元集团会议上说。

最引人注目的反对者仍然是意大利，它称欧洲稳定机制（ESM）已经过时，并阻止了近期任何对其进行改革的尝试。“意大利的意思是，我们需要一个可以在更多场合使用的ESM。现在，在一个我们已经有了解决方案的问题上，他们却仍然不为所动，”格拉梅加在接受NBC采访时表示。

欧洲稳定机制（ESM）的运作方式类似于政府间条约，因此不受欧盟预算中国防限制条款的约束。例如，该机制完全可以向采购武器提供低成本资金。ESM的贷款能力高达4220亿欧元（4530亿美元），远远超过任何一个欧盟国家的军费预算。

正在竞选连任的欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩承诺，如果连任成功，将首次任命一位国防专员，此举可能会进一步增强欧盟的国防和安全实力。

不过，一些内部人士认为变革的步伐将会缓慢，而且对于保卫乌克兰对欧洲的意义，仍然存在不同的看法。

“通常只有在出现超级危机时，事情才会进展迅速，而目前并非如此，”欧盟委员会驻柏林代表处政治负责人玛尼卡·豪普特曼表示。“这些讨论将如何发展，目前还很难说。”

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。