Ukraine war pushed EU to increase defence budget in 2024

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the European Parliament has backed the Commission’s proposal to spend more money on defence in next year’s EU budget even though financial resources are scarce.

The push to boost the defence-related budgets despite tight EU budget strings comes after the war started in next-door Ukraine and as the EU capitals are pledging large budget increases to arm up against Russia and support Ukraine, among other neighbours.

According to the compromise agreement on the 2024 EU budget seen by Euractiv, the Parliament’s negotiators would like to see a €625 million increase for the European Defence Fund (EDF), and an additional €45 million for military mobility.

This move, which comes on top of the EU executive’s initial budget proposal, would back the Commission’s proposal of the seven-year budget framework, the multi-annual financial framework (MFF for 2021-2027), and the sovereignty fund (STEP) starting in 2024.

During the 2020 negotiations on the 2021-2027 financial framework, the defence budgets were among the first ones to be slashed by the leaders.

But “the war has made “business as usual” in the EU defence policy not possible any more,” Victor Negrescu (S&D, Romania), shadow rapporteur on the 2024 budget, told Euractiv.
Table on the MFF review and STEP adoption

This way, the European Parliament “aligns its position” with the European Commission’s, Siegfried Muresan (EPP, Romania), rapporteur on the EU budget, told Euractiv in an interview.

In practice, the European Parliament is adopting a 2024 budget already including the additional funding proposed under the MFF review for 2024-2027 and STEP (formerly known as the Sovereignty fund), even though they are still under negotiation amongst the member states.

The proposed review came on top of the 2024 budget the EU executive initially tabled.

If the Council backs the Parliament and Commission’s reviewed position, the EDF would benefit from €1,263 billion and the military mobility programme from €286 million in 2024.