Far-right rise in Europe puts defense spending at risk

According to Politico, the right-wing parties of France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Romania are trying to turn voters' financial difficulties into opposition to aid to Kiev, refusal to increase national defense budgets and rejection of a larger role for the EU in the field of defence.

Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Rally Party, called for limiting aid to Ukraine last month, saying "financially we cannot afford it anymore."

In Italy, Roberto Vannacci, leader of the far-right National Future Party, which is increasingly challenging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, called for a review of defense spending and said, "Let's evaluate whether these military expenditures are justified. In my opinion, these expenditures are not justified, especially at a time when commodity prices have reached record levels."

AS THE ELECTIONS APPROACH, THERE IS A DILEMMA ON EXPENDITURES

The biggest challenge for mainstream parties in Europe is how to maintain support for higher defense budgets, even if it means competing with welfare and other priorities, the report said. The fact that major NATO member countries France, Italy and Poland face elections to be held in 2027 and that far-right parties have a high chance of coming to power deepens this dilemma even further.

A military official from NATO said, "We are in a situation where we need to close the gap with Russia. We are on a positive track so far; if someone turns off the tap, we risk losing our capabilities."

For NATO, a slowdown in spending would complicate the alliance's efforts to meet its goal of spending 5% of GDP on defense and security by 2035.

THE PUBLIC IS NOT SATISFIED WITH THE INCREASE IN EXPENDITURE

European countries and Canada are expected to spend $634 billion for basic defense needs this year. This represents an increase of 11% compared to 2025. However, public support is divided on this issue.

An average of 46.2% of respondents across eight European countries said they would not support increasing defense spending if it meant higher taxes, while 35.5% did, according to an August survey evaluated by the European Council on Foreign Relations and shared with POLITICO.

Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland were more opposed to raising taxes to finance military spending. Respondents in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom were more likely to accept higher taxes for military spending.