![]() Nevertheless, European defense has remained underfunded, perpetuating Europe’s dependence on the US. Since 2015, EU member states’ collective defense expenditure has steadily increased, with 2021 marking the seventh consecutive year of real growth. The trend of decreasing military budgets was reversed after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, which led several EU member states to increase their defense spending for the first time in years. While the US, Russia, and China increased their defense budgets by 65.7 percent, 292 percent, and 592 percent respectively between 19, combined EU defense spending only increased by 19.7 percent. ![]() This has led to a relative loss of the EU’s combined military strength. Continuous budget cuts, starting with the cashing in of the peace dividend after the Cold War and exacerbated by austerity policies and uncoordinated cuts in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, have resulted in a major and lasting depreciation of EU member states’ armed forces. The announced increases in EU member states’ defense budgets, if realized, would put an end to decades of underinvestment.
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