European Defence Readiness 2030: assessment of needs

The European Parliament adopted by 425 votes to 120, with 96 abstentions, a resolution 2025 on European Defence Readiness 2030: assessment of needs.

Context

According to the European Defence Agency (EDA), after a decline in 2014, Member States defence expenditure reached EUR 343 billion in 2024, corresponding to 1.9 % of GDP and representing a 19 % increase compared to 2023. Member States defence expenditure may exceed the 2 % NATO guideline in 2025.

The current level of investment in security and defence in the EU is insufficient to meet the capability targets for every Member State. Increasing the available funding for defence cooperation is vital to overcome endemic fragmentation and decades of under investment. The Commission identified a defence capability investment gap of EUR 800 billion for Member States to be closed by 2030 under the ReArm Europe plan, involving an annual increase of 10 % in spending, to reach around EUR 575 billion in 2030, or 3.15 % of combined GDP.

Parliament stated that the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2028-2034 should support a comprehensive security approach and appropriately fund measures that strengthen defence readiness and resilience. In its proposal for the next MFF, the Commission is allocating EUR 115.7 billion (in 2025 prices) to defence and space under the European Competitiveness Fund, five times more than in the previous MFF period, as well as EUR 15.7 billion (in 2025 prices) for military mobility under the Connecting Europe Facility, a tenfold increase compared to the previous period, aiming at supporting the development of transport infrastructure that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Stability and long-term vision for private defence investment

Parliament believes that the time has come for a renewed political commitment to make the EU a credible security provider by strengthening its defence readiness through fostering deeper cooperation among Member States, their armed forces and industries. It called on the Member States to pool efforts to achieve a coherent, ambitious and integrated European framework for defence. It underlined, in this context, the need for the Commission and the Member States to prepare emergency procedures for projects established in response to major crises or wars, including faster allocation of public funds and private capital, as an integral element in ensuring readiness and the EUs capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to emerging security threats.

Despite the objectives of the ReArm Europe plan, by the end of July 2025 only 10 out of 27 Member States had announced a clear target to increase their defence spending to at least 3 % of GDP by 2030. In this regard, each Member State is called on to draw up a detailed strategic vision for its military expenditure up to 2030, with a clear division between hard defence capabilities and dual-use infrastructure, including capability milestones, stockpile metrics, SME participation figures, and a target for the share of collaborative procurement.

The resolution also underlined that future investment must prioritise cooperation, interoperability and expedited joint procurement, making EU-level collaboration the norm within the European defence industrial sector. It stressed, in this regard, the need to align Readiness 2030 with the concrete numerical targets set out in the European defence industrial strategy (EDIS), in particular by ensuring that at least 40 % of defence equipment is procured jointly by 2030, that at least 35 % of defence trade is intra-EU trade by 2030, and that at least 50 % of defence procurement is of EU-made products by 2030, and 60 % by 2035.

Parliament welcomed the proposals set out in the ReArm Europe plan to offer Member States greater budgetary flexibility and to encourage increased defence spending in order to strengthen the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB).

Mobilising private capital

Parliament considers it essential to support a European market of specialised investors offering a continuum of financing (credit, private debt and equity) to companies, especially startups, SMEs and mid-caps, in the EDTIB and in the Ukrainian defence technological and industrial base (DTIB). It welcomed the Commission and the EIBs initiative to establish the Defence Equity Facility, with a budget of EUR 175 million for the 2024-2027 period. However, it considers that this fund is entirely insufficient in view of the financing needs and called on the EIB to comply with the wishes of the Member States, as reiterated in Council conclusions, by increasing this budget to EUR 1 billion, in order to better meet the equity needs of the EDTIB and its value chain, with particular attention on smaller actors facing the greatest financing gap.

Member States should ensure that their procurement of defence products is open and competitive for the EDTIB as a whole. They should also strengthen their controls on direct investment by third-country actors.

Lastly, the resolution called for a unified commitment among the Member States to boost defence spending in line with the outcomes of the 2025 NATO The Hague Summit, where NATO allies made a commitment to invest 5 % of GDP annually on core defence requirements and defence- and security-related spending by 2035. Member States are urged to foster European defence initiatives, enhance interoperability and invest in joint procurement aligned with common strategic priorities, including munitions production.

Text adopted by Parliament, single reading