European rearmament: capabilities, budgets, and dependencies

3 episodes

Épisode 1/3

Defence industry: how Europe is boosting production

On April 29th, 2025

5 min reading time

Hélène Masson

Senior Research Fellow at Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique

France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden are the main European countries that design, produce and export arms.
According to SIPRI, France ranks second in the world among arms exporting countries for the period from 2020 to 2024, with €18bn worth of orders in 2024.
The emergence of new production hubs in eastern and south-eastern Europe illustrates the desire of states to maintain industrial and technological capabilities in strategic segments within their own territories.
French defence companies are picking up pace, particularly manufacturers of artillery systems, medium and large-calibre ammunition, powders and explosives, etc.
In March 2025, the European Commission presented a package of measures as part of the ReArm Europe plan, aimed at stimulating defence investment.

Épisode 2/3

On April 16th, 2025

6 min reading time

Samuel Faure

Lecturer in Political Science at Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye

The defence policy of EU Member States is a matter of national sovereignty; institutions such as the European Commission are primarily political regulators and coordinators.
A minority of EU Member States have a significant DITB (Defence industrial and technological base), while the vast majority do not and depend on non-European partners (the United States).
Since Brexit, France is the only EU Member State to possess a nuclear arsenal and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
The major European states are arms exporters, and in 2024 France alone accounted for 9.6% of global arms exports.
In the face of the US disengagement from the defence of Europe, the ReArm Europe action plan seeks, for example, to strengthen the military capabilities of EU members.

Épisode 3/3

On May 21st, 2025

3 min reading time

Léo Péria-Peigné

Researcher at the Ifri Centre for Security Studies

In recent years, there has been a gradual rearmament of EU member states and defence budgets are generally on the rise.
Although France has the second largest army in the EU, it would currently struggle to deploy more than one brigade and replace it with an equivalent unit.
Today, 4% of Poland’s budget is devoted to defence, and its goal is to build the EU’s leading army in response to Russian aggression.
Following Poland’s example, Estonia is spending 3.4% of its budget on defence, compared with 3.2% for Latvia and 2.9% for Lithuania.
Although the UK has a substantial defence budget, both its army and navy have weaknesses in terms of infrastructure, equipment and manpower.