EXCLUSIVE - EU NATO members underspent on defence
by $829 billion in last 10 years

How British taxpayers have been paying for the EU27's defence

The shocking truth for MPs and the public

Unelected EU Council President Donald Tusk, criticising elected US President Trump - Credit: EU Council

Part Two of our summary on EU militarisation

Prepared using official EU, UK Government, and NATO sources

Defence of the Realm is the primary responsibility for any government. Brexit Facts4EU.Org presents the second in our series of 1-page EU Defence Union summaries for MPs and for voters. This paper is about British taxpayers' money, NATO, and the EU27's inability to pay for its own defence for decades. It makes for shocking reading.

In the last 10 years

The UK has spent $61 billion more than the NATO minimum of 2% of GDP on defence
Germany has spent $279 billion less than it should
Italy has spent $155 billion less than it should
Spain has underspent by $142 bn, the Netherlands by $64bn, Belgium by $50bn, France by $37bn
The 21 EU & NATO members (excl. UK) have spent $829 billion dollars less than the NATO minimum

We recommend all readers to click on the image below, to read our report in PDF form.

Factsheet no.2 on the EU and defence

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2019. Members of the public are free to circulate this in digital or printed form. We ask Brexit organisations and the media to contact us about re-use, as a courtesy, and permission will normally be granted.

We recommend all readers to click on the image above, to read our report clearly in PDF form.

Funding shortfall - Germany continues to underspend massively on defence

The problem doesn't only relate to a 10-year period. Even last year (2018), Germany spent only 1.24% of GDP on defence - virtually the same as the previous year. In May last year, the German government-funded news organisation dw.com reported the following:-

For all MPs, and for readers who support our defence forces

Above we have highlighted the simple fact that the UK pays its way in NATO on defence - and does more than it has to - whilst the performance of other EU countries has been woeful.

That said, we believe that the proportion of GDP which the UK spends on defence is wholly inadequate. The USA is spending 3.5% of GDP on defence and its latest growth figures released yesterday were far in excess of those which the UK and EU are managing. (The BBC were clearly crestfallen at this news: read their report here.)

The UK currently only just spends the NATO minimum of 2% of GDP on defence. Better than our EU partners, but still not good enough. We advocate an increase to USA levels once the UK is out of the EU.

Outside the EU, the UK would no longer have to allow EU companies to win defence contracts in the UK. This will mean jobs and prosperity for many constituencies across the country which could really do with this economic stimulus.

SPONSORS : This paper has been kindly sponsored by one of our readers, Mr Sydney Ashurst.

Thanks also to all other readers who donated to the first factsheet of this project, listed in that article. We still need donations towards the third and final part of this EU Defence Union series. The final paper deals with Mrs May’s moves to keep the UK and its military shackled to EU foreign and defence policy. Can you help? To donate to this work in a quick and secure way, please scroll down to the bottom of this article. You can be named, or anonymous, as you wish.

Did you miss part one in our defence series?

To see our first paper on the EU Defence Union, click here.

Observations

Each one-pager we produce is by definition a summary of certain key facts which we believe MPs and voters would like to know. We have covered all this information in detail in nearly 200 articles over the past three years.

These papers involve the distillation of thousands of facts we’ve researched from official EU, UK Government, and NATO sources over the past three years, into something everyone can read. These one-pagers are one of the most difficult and time-consuming things we do.

We fully understand that everyone is donating to the ‘big boys’ and that an extra donation to us is a big ask. All we can say is that our work matters. We’re not organising rallies preaching to the converted. We don’t have expensive London offices or expense accounts. We’re focused on what we think can really influence the debate, and can influence the MPs who will ultimately decide on Brexit.

We believe that publishing the first ever set of simple facts about the number one priority of Government – the defence of the Realm – is another good way of making a difference.

Please support us with a donation if you can, otherwise we can’t produce the final defence factsheet.

Finally, let's get the word out there!

We hope you will help us to promote this second EU Defence Union factsheet in any way you can, including printing it off and sending it to your MP! All the details on how to do this can be found in our 'Brexit Battle Pack' here.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 27 Apr 2019

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

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PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 9

1. Deeply maddened by political establishment , Saturday, April 27, 2019, 05:39:

I wish to thank you all for having the sheer tenacity and guts to first research all this and then publish the bare naked facts.
This particular set of facts is a real wake-up call to the real intentions of the EU. As if we did not know that from decades ago. You only have to skim through the book 'The Nazi roots of the Brussels EU' published by Dr Rath Health Foundation to understand that when you hear people being called 'nazi' for voting a certain way, that this is completely false. We all know who they are but they have twisted it around to mean anyone who does not agree with them.

2. Matthew, London, UK , Saturday, April 27, 2019, 08:42:

I really don't understand how the EU can carry on with their arrogant and hostile attitude towards the UK when they know very well how much they rely on us. Even more puzzling that 'we' (i.e. our Parliament) let them to get away with it. Outrageous!

3. No Brexit! , Saturday, April 27, 2019, 10:42:

Yeah, I'm sure you think you're very clever with all your graphs and everything but the simple fact is (if you want facts...) is that the UK can't cope without the EU either with defence or trade or any other important matters. The world doesn't work that way any more.

4. John T, Devon , Saturday, April 27, 2019, 14:55:

Hi appropriately named 'No Brexit' Exclamation Mark, I'm sure your unprejudiced mind is hungry for a wide range of new information to process and draw real conclusions from it. It's just a shame that you only register something as 'fact' if it's in line with your opinion. I can see why you're struggling here to satisfy yourself, because as John Adams said "Facts are stubborn things".

5. Patrick F , Saturday, April 27, 2019, 15:23:

No Brexit exclamation mark. "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves." (Lord Byron)

6. Adam Hiley , Saturday, April 27, 2019, 17:41:

Yet again Britain & USA have to protect the ungrateful EU from themselves and their stupidity leave them to it arm ourselves to the teeth let the Remoaners go and enlist into the EU Armed Forces

7. Gary Taylor , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 10:24:

I'm surprised that "No Brexit! is still ( I assume ) living in this country while having such doubts, but overall this seems to be the mindset of remainers in general, they just do not believe in Great Britain and if this is the case they really are of no use to our society. Beats me why they don't just up sticks and move to a country they can believe in.

8. kzb , Sunday, April 28, 2019, 18:43:

Despite us apparently spending more, the fact is the French defence forces are about 25% bigger. Look it up on Wikipedia if you don't believe me. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but it looks to me we would lose a war with the French simply because their personnel and hardware are so much greater than ours. Even Italy is arguably better armed than us. Unfortunately our greater spend seems to be because the UK spending is less efficient. We manage to waste even more money than the others! More people work in defence procurement than there are army personnel.

9. James Arkell , Tuesday, July 02, 2019, 07:06:

Why is the OP confusing NATO members and finance with the EU? Why aren't the figures in GBP rather than USD? This is a NATO issue and NOT an EU issue. Blaming various Conservative Governments for underfunding NATO is understandable, they are responsible it is not the EU's fault for them doing it, is it? It makes absolutely no logical sense

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EXCLUSIVE - EU NATO members underspent on defenceby $829 billion in last 10 years