EXCLUSIVE: EU NATO members owe $¾ TRILLION in ‘back-pay’ for defence underspend

$64 billion dollar question: “Will the EU repay the $64bn the UK has overpaid to defend them?”

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025

EU leaders meet today on Ukraine crisis - Facts4EU asks sobering questions for them to answer

As EU leaders meet today (06 Mar 2025) in Brussels, there will no doubt be some grand announcements about the EU’s intention to spend significantly more on defence. Ahead of these announcements the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank, in association with GB News, can exclusively reveal what the EU leaders will NOT want to mention : the EU NATO members’ underspend on defence of ¾ TRILLION dollars since Putin started invading Ukraine.

Since Putin’s aggression started, the UK has spent $64 billion more on defence than it was required to, under the NATO guidelines agreed at the NATO summit in Cardiff in early 2014. Since then, UK forces have defended the EU and supported Ukraine as follows.

UK's actions since Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014

Air defence missions from the southern tip of the EU’s eastern flank to the EU’s Baltic states in the north
Maritime defence patrols from the Arctic Ocean down to the Mediterranean
Deployed troops on the ground from the north down to south of the EU’s eastern borders
Provided military and financial support to Ukraine for over 10 years
Trained 10’s of thousands of Ukrainian forces in the UK, to ready them for the battlefield
Consistently stood by Ukraine when most EU countries were absent in their support
Continued its military defence of the EU five years after leaving the bloc

REVEALED : The EU NATO members’ massive underspend on defence in the last 10 years

Using NATO’s latest data, the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank has calculated the impact of the EU’s failure to stand up and take responsibility for its own defence.

This is what they each underspent on defence since Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Performance of EU NATO members versus the UK, 2014-2024

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Only two countries spent NATO minimum every year since Putin first invaded Ukraine: The UK and Greece
Greece spends on defence because of its dispute with neighbour Turkey, NOT because of defence against Putin
Poland only started spending seriously on defence in 2023, but it has now caught up
Estonia has Russia as a neighbour and feels under constant threat – it is now spending but it’s a small economy
The figures below are indexed to 2015, to take out the effect of inflation; they are not current prices which would of course be more

The cumulative, massive underspend of EU NATO members since Putin first invaded Ukraine

Below is the cumulative effect of the underspend of EU NATO members – to say nothing of the four EU countries such as Ireland who are not NATO members. In all this time the UK has consistently done its bit, and in fact exceeded this. To reiterate, the UK has spent $64bn more than it was required to.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The cumulative effect of the EU's underspending on defence for years

Note: The figures below are indexed to 2015 to take out the effect of inflation; they are not current prices which would of course be more.

Trump versus the EU (and the UK)

Just as President Trump has announced a transformational programme of cuts to balance the US budget, Germany’s Chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, has announced the exact opposite.

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Merz plans to tear up Germany’s constitutional requirement to spend only what it collects, set when West Germany was formed after the Second World War. He is now planning to borrow against Germany’s flatlining economy in order to pay for an uplift in German defence spending.

The big question must surely be whether Friedrich Merz – or any EU leader – will recognise the ‘back-pay’ they owe for decades of underspending on defence, relying on the US and the UK to defend them against Russia.

The official NATO figures which Facts4EU has accessed show conclusively that the British people have spent far more on defence than any EU country.

The $64 billion dollar question is: “Will the EU ever repay us?”

Observations

Anyone who knows anything about defence will tell you it take years for any defence expenditure to be seen in operational readiness. This is true of manpower - recruitment, training, provisioning, and deployment - and even more so in military hardware - research, development, testing, manufacturing and deployment.

This is why Facts4EU has been campaigning for an increase in the UK's defence budget for many years, from around 2% to 3.5%.

In our report we have therefore shown the poor performance of the EU's NATO members for the last 10 years. We have no doubt the EU leaders will exit their meeting in Brussels today with more fine words about how they will be uplifting their defence budgets. The problem is that this will not show through in military capability for years.

In the last 10 years it has been the UK that has done much of the 'heavy lifting', (to use a phrase the PM seems to have learnt and grown fond of), whilst EU friends have used the unused portion of their GDP to improve the lives of their citizens. Meanwhile the UK has been actively deploying in the defence of the EU's eastern flank in particular. It does not seem unreasonable now to ask them to reimburse us.

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[ Sources: NATO ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 06 Mar 2025

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Reader Comments 11

1. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 09:21:

The UK won defence orders worth total £12.0 billion in 2022. And 22% of that came from European countries: Europe spend £2.6 billion on UK weapons in 2022 alone.
Furthermore, 55% of the total combined defence spending of EU countries is spend on contracts for the USA arms industry.
NATO is a lucrative business for the USA … but also for the UK.

2. NH , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 10:45:

1. LB
I am not sure what your point is, are you claiming NATO is just a financial Scam ?
.
Leonardo (Italy) has 26% of it's sales to the USA
Dassault (France) has 16% of it's sales to the USA
Rheinmetall (Germany) has 8% of it's sales to the USA
.
They also sell significant amounts to the UK. Defence is a lucrative business if you are good at it. Rheinmetall 's share price has increased by 450% over the last year because they will benefit from EU increased defence spending. It seems reasonable that if you want other NATO countries to defend you, you should also contribute to NATO defence.

3. Sparky , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 11:13:

"Uk forces have defended the EU and supported Ukraine". It has been in our own self interest to defend against Russia and Boris Johnson jumped at the chance to throw money at Ukraine for his own popularity and provide an example of UK independence following Brexit.
.
How much did the UK and USA spend on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, that is where much of the UK defence spending went over the last 20 years (and biggest source of illegal immigration) Trump is forcing Europe to defend itself and Europe is making the right noises but it will take years and years to build up. Russia seems to be weak currently due to the Ukraine, but if this war ends they will rebuild.
.
It will be an opportunity for the UK defence industry but I agree with LB, the USA will be the biggest beneficiary.

4. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 11:31:

2 NH ‘are you claiming NATO is just a financial scam?’ I don’t think I used the work scam in my post. I am merely pointing out that Facts4EU believes that an EU country like Denmark should contribute towards ‘$64 billion in EU NATO countries underspend’ to the UK while ignoring the fact that Denmark has spend $6.22 mln in 2023 alone on contracts with the UK defense industry.

5. NH , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 11:45:

3. Sp.
The Iraq war was a coalition of 48 Countries against Iraq at the request of Arab states.
The Afghanistan war was a response to International Terrorism and was supported by approximately 30 countries.
.
Are you claiming the UK and USA are guilty because we contributed the most to these conflicts ?
If you don't go to war you still have to pay military staff and replace equipment because of technology changes so it's still very expensive. NATO has existed since 1948 and, as far as I am aware, the UK has always complied with the rules in good faith. EU countries are now having problems because they have consistently treated their "partners" with complete contempt rather than respecting their contribution.

6. NH , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 12:01:

4. LB
So what ?
In 2023 the UK gave Thales (France) a £3 Billion defence contract, 13% of their total orders. It's up to each country where they spend their defence revenue. If Denmark wants to be in NATO it should comply with NATO's requirements, same as everybody else.

7. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 12:16:

6 NH … what is your point? I agree that all NATO countries should require with NATO’s requirement. I am merely pointing out that when Facts4EU thinks it is reasonable now to ask eg Denmark to reimburse us, we should not ignore the fact that a country like Denmark is spending $6.44 mln a year in the UK defense industry.
I am fine if you disagree with that view … but I don’t see the point of you incorrectly implying that I think NATO is a scam or that I don’t think all NATO countries are required to meet NATO obligations.

8. terence patrick hewett , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 12:19:

It's still the "phony" war: when it hots up there will be a wailing and a gnashing of teeth.

9. Gazzablack , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 12:19:

3, sparkless
.
The EU may be "making the right noises", but that's all it is ........ Noise.
.
Even today the EU is fuelling more money into Russia than it is into Ukraine.
.
Aah Boris only have financial support to be popular, whereas Starmer is giving financial support to Ukraine because he's a global statesman.
.
Yup, we see where you're coming from Hiroo.

10. The Brexit Facts4EU.Org Team , Thursday, March 06, 2025, 16:56:

7. 'Luxury Balloon' .
We would appreciate it if you stopped continually referring to us and saying what (you think) we think. Please keep to the topic. We are not the story. Thank you.
Regards, the Facts4EU team

11 comments, page 1 of 2

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