Leaders from northern and southern Europe have said EU security requires increased investment if countries hope to see off the ongoing threat from Russia.
The North-South summit was staged in the town of Inari, which is widely known as the capital of Finnish Sámi culture.
Addressing the media, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said that defence needed to be bolstered. “To prevent war we really need to do more on defence. We have to invest in critical capabilities,” she said.
“Russia poses a direct threat to European security, but security comprises different elements, and they are different in east, south, north and west, but we can tackle these issues if we act together,” she added.
Two weeks ago the European Defence Agency published its Defence Data report for 2023 on the defence spending of all 27 EU Member States.
At a record €279 billion, spending has increased by 10% on the previous year, which is also the the ninth year of consecutive growth. In all, 22 states increased their defence expenditure, with 11 of them increasing spending by over 10%.
And whilst Spain and Belgium only spent 1.2% on defence in 2023, states that border Russia spent much more: Poland devoted 3.3 % of its budget to defence, Estonia 3% and Latvia 2.9%.
The upcoming administration of US President-elect, Donald Trump, was also raised at the conference, ahead of his inauguration in January 2025.
Trump has consistently called for a swift end to the war in Ukraine through negotiation with Russia, raising fears during his campaign that he would cut US funding to the war-torn country.
However, officials close to Trump have revealed he intends to continue sending US military equipment to Ukraine after his inauguration, while his foreign policy team have also said he plans to urge NATO allies to raise their defence spending to five percent of their GDP.
Responding to a question on how Trump might change US policy towards Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was critical to continue to support Kyiv.
“Saying that in my opinion about Trump we should not follow the rumours I heard, for example, the last things he said about Ukraine. So I’ve gone to Russia saying that, yes we’re working for peace, but we know to have peace we cannot abandon Ukraine,” Meloni said.
“So I would wait to understand exactly what the real intentions are of the new president of the United States or NATO,” she added.
