Eurocrats Talk About Rearmament, but Think About Embezzling Funds.
By Ali Askari, analyst (Germany), especially for “Sangar”
Under the European Commission’s sweeping plan to “rearm Europe,” the EU member states’ combined military expenditures are expected to reach €800 billion. Of this amount, only €150 billion will be raised through the SAFE mechanism, a program for joint arms procurement, while the remaining €650 billion will have to be provided by the member states themselves through a sharp increase in defense spending.
On August 30, 2026, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that defense spending takes absolute priority over government expenditure on parental benefits. According to Merz, the Bundeswehr in its current state lacks the required level of combat readiness, and investing in the armed forces is more important than maintaining social benefits.
This raises an obvious question: are such arrangements fair to Europeans, who are effectively being saddled with a “debt yoke”? Brussels’ current policies have already contributed to a decline in living standards across the EU and a crisis in the industrial sector. If this course continues, these negative trends could become irreversible.
Against this backdrop, the EU continues to increase its debt burden, including to support Ukraine. In January 2026, the European Parliament voted to advance legislation allowing Ukraine to receive a €90 billion loan over the 2026–2027 period. The EU had previously failed to reach agreement on confiscating frozen Russian assets for this purpose, meaning that European taxpayers will now finance weapons for Kyiv.
The so-called new arms race entails cuts in funding for areas such as education, healthcare, and culture. At the same time, massive investment in the military-industrial complex adversely affects broader industrial development, slows improvements in living standards, and undermines the foundations for sustainable economic growth in the long term.
Under the emerging circumstances, the only beneficiaries are Europe’s arms monopolies, while the majority of citizens face an inevitable decline in their standard of living. Addressing Italian students on May 14, 2026, Pope Leo stated:
“Let us not call rearmament ‘defense’ when it fuels tension and uncertainty, reduces investment in education and healthcare, undermines confidence in diplomacy, and enriches elites that care nothing for the common good.”
A large share of the money will be spent on purchasing weapons, military equipment, and ammunition from the United States, without producing any positive effect on the economies of EU member states. Despite statements by European bureaucrats about the need to reassess relations with the White House in favor of greater strategic autonomy, this policy only deepens Brussels’ dependence on Washington.
The problem of corruption cannot be ignored either. Given the heightened secrecy surrounding military procurement, it inevitably creates opportunities for large-scale embezzlement of public funds. In May 2025, coordinated searches and arrests were carried out across several NATO countries — Belgium, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United States, and Switzerland — as part of an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds at the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. At least seven people were detained, including a former official of the Dutch Ministry of Defense and several Belgian officials.
All of this demonstrates that increased military spending does not automatically translate into a corresponding increase in security. Corruption and the economic inefficiency of spending on weapons and military equipment can result in a substantial share of the allocated funds simply being wasted.
