Defense spending 'turf war' divides EU and NATO

The European Union and the US-led NATO military alliance are squaring up for what has been called a "turf war" over how to deal with funding for European security.

Of the EU's 27 member states, 23 are also in NATO, accounting for 96 percent of the EU's population. United States President Donald Trump has long complained about European countries benefiting from the reassurance of US protection, but not contributing their fair share toward the communal budget, and he has been vocal in his demands that members increase the share of GDP they commit to munitions and weaponry.

His resentment has increased recently because of the unwillingness of NATO members to join Washington's military campaign against Iran, which has led some European countries to reconsider their reliance on US security guarantees and think more about increased European independence, making Brussels a more significant player in defense, something the White House opposes.

An unnamed EU official told the Financial Times newspaper, "There's a turf war over defense industrial policy … this is about who manages the production scale-up, and what impact that has on the weapons Europe will be using in the future."

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, communal defense has been an increasing concern across Europe, causing EU member states Finland and neighboring Sweden to abandon their long-standing policy of nonalignment and join NATO.

Relations between Washington and Brussels have become strained lately over many issues, most notably tariffs, and although both sides agree Europe should increase its defense investment, there is division over how that money should be spent.

Recently, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez even went as far as to repeat a call he made last year for "a European army, EU armed forces with troops from all 27 member countries, working under a single flag with the same objectives", but NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told a European Parliament foreign affairs committee earlier this year that Europe taking care of its own security without US backing was unrealistic.

Although he praised the work the EU and NATO could do alongside one another, on the topic of any sort of combined European defense force, Rutte said, "I think there will be a lot of duplication. I wish you luck if you want to do it, because you have to find the men and women in uniform, it will be on top of what is happening already, and it will make things more complicated."

The issue of who has what responsibilities is coming to a head in the run-up to the NATO leaders' summit in Ankara in July. But Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general for defense investment, who is now the secretary-general of the European Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association, said that at a time when US productivity was "overheating to make up for the war in Iran, and where Europe is spending so much more, it seems obvious that there is a role for both NATO and the EU".