Europe faces a painful adjustment to higher defence spending
The choices: taxes, cuts elsewhere, more borrowing
With vladimir putin issuing threats and Donald Trump musing about withdrawing support, everyone agrees that Europe needs to spend more on its armed forces. What is less widely recognised is how wrenching the shift will be for a continent that has grown used to outsourcing its defence to America. Over the past three decades, politicians have enthusiastically spent the peace dividend on everything bar pilots, sailors and soldiers (see chart).
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “A shadow falls”
Finance & economics February 24th 2024
- Russia outsmarts Western sanctions—and China is paying attention
- Europe faces a painful adjustment to higher defence spending
- Should you put all your savings into stocks?
- As the Nikkei 225 hits record highs, Japan’s young start investing
- Gucci, Prada and Tiffany’s bet big on property
- Trump wants to whack Chinese firms. How badly could he hurt them?
From the February 24th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Finance & economics
China meets its official growth target. Not everyone is convinced
For one thing, 2024 saw the second-weakest rise in nominal GDP since the 1970s
Ethiopia gets a stockmarket. Now it just needs some firms to list
The country is no longer the most populous without a bourse
Are big cities overrated?
New economic research suggests so
Why catastrophe bonds are failing to cover disaster damage
The innovative form of insurance is reaching its limits
“The Traitors”, a reality TV show, offers a useful economics lesson
It is a finite, sequential, incomplete information game
Will Donald Trump unleash Wall Street?
Bankers have plenty of reason to be hopeful