The situation in Europe is now fast heating up. The European countries are now finding out the Donald Trump is not interested in handing a carte blanche to the continent and let them have endless handouts and security guarantees from the US. So it seems Europe is going on its own and has now decided to escalate its military buildup to go up in an arms race against Russia, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. Tusk is not the first European leader to propose such a move, earlier Macron has mulled the idea of a nuclear umbrella for Europe while Zelensky and other European leaders have also proposed the formation of a European Army.
In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Poland Prime Minister Tusk claimed Russia has started a new arms race and insisted that the EU must respond. “The war, the geopolitical uncertainty and the new arms race started by Putin have left Europe [sic] with no choice. Europe must be ready for this race, and Russia will lose it like the Soviet Union 40 years ago,” Tusk wrote.
The Polish prime minister further claimed that “Europe must be ready for this race, and Russia will lose it like the Soviet Union 40 years ago,” arguing that the EU would arm itself faster than Russia.
Tusk’s remarks are striking as the US President Donald Trump and his administration increasingly push European NATO members to take responsibility for their own defense. In response UK has also announced a considerable increase in its defence spending.
However after the verbal altercation between Trump and Zelensky, Europe is shaken up. Trump has made it clear that he is only interested in the affairs of European nations if there is a financial link and a profit for the US as well. He is not inclined to foot the bill for the EU and NATO nations to take endless advantage of the American taxpayers money.
This approach has sent shivers down the European nations who have long left the majority of their military defence work for the US especially since the end of the second world war. It seems now they will be rearming again.
Response from Russia
Meanwhile Moscow has asserted that they will not engage in an arms race with the EU, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Peskov said it was regrettable to hear such statements. “They will not win against us because we will not play with them; we will be busy ensuring our own interests,” he said.
“We regret the confrontational, even militaristic, statements coming from Warsaw and Paris, which show that Europe has yet to adjust to the new dynamic between Moscow and Washington,” Peskov said. He didn’t rule out, however, that European leaders would eventually “feel which way the wind is blowing.”
On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a massive defense spending hike. As part of the ‘ReArm Europe Plan’, the bloc would spend about $840 billion on defense – double total EU defense expenditures in 2024. The European leaders’ calls come as US President Donald Trump’s administration has recently signaled a major policy shift, urging European nations to take the lead in their own defense, as well as in supporting Kiev.
Last month, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that Washington intended to refocus its military priorities on countering China, warning the EU not to assume that American forces would remain in the region indefinitely. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Western claims of an impending attack “nonsense.” He has also accused European leaders of stoking tensions and using the perceived Russian threat as a pretext to justify increased military spending.
In December, Putin had stressed that Russia does not want to be bogged down in an arms race, which would be detrimental to the social and economic development of the country. He warned, however, that Russia will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of itself and its allies.
However despite Russia’s repeated assertions the EU, Macron, Starmer and now Donald Tusk are intent on an arms race and a militarized Europe. This will only ratchet up the tensions considerably and may even expand the ambit of the current Russia Ukraine conflict ending up engulfing the entire continent.