Europe Needs to Spend $260 Billion to Defend Itself Without US Support: Study

The Bruegel and Kiel study found that the defense spending of European Union members needed to increase from the current 2 percent to about 4 percent of GDP.

A French soldier takes part in a NATO drill in Estonia on Feb. 5, 2022. Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images

The European Union would need to spend about 250 billion euros (about $262.4 billion) annually to defend itself against Russia without U.S. support, a study published on Feb. 21 found.

The study’s authors from the Bruegel think tank in Belgium and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany said this would require spending the equivalent of 1.5 percent of the EU’s GDP to mobilize 300,000 more soldiers.