Europe Is Racing to Build Its Own Version of the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex
For Europe, it is now something to aspire to. This week, Germany asked the European Union to invoke an emergency clause exempting defense investment from spending rules, as part of the bloc’s five-year rearmament plan. Global defense expenditure experienced the highest year-over-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War in 2024, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data showed this week, with Europe as the main contributor.