Amid Ukraine war, EU Commission adopts plan for European war economy
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On March 5, the European Union (EU) Commission adopted a plan to put the EU economy on a war footing, diverting massive resources to the arms industry. The plan calls for EU countries to raise military spending to 2 percent of GDP and spend approximately an additional €1.1 trillion for defense over a decade. It establishes a €1.5 billion emergency fund, to be increased to €100 billion over the next five years. The plan proposes to turn the EU Commission into a coordinating body, overseeing supply chains and production of EU arms manufacturers. It grants the European Commission and Council vast emergency powers to control and reorient European economic production towards war, suspending civilian production in the event of international crises. The plan aims to prioritize military over civilian production, boost military spending, impose speed-up and intensified exploitation on workers, and hand control of the economy to the officer corps. The plan cynically justifies these policies by invoking the NATO-Russia war in Ukraine. It applauds Ukraine as a crucial partner in the defense industrial sector and calls for closer cooperation between the EU and Ukrainian defense industries. The plan aims to ensure that EU armies buy a majority of their equipment from EU companies, cutting out US and British arms manufacturers. The EU military plan reflects conflicts between US and European imperialism and the desire for Europe to have a more independent military policy from Washington. The plan is seen as utterly reactionary and plays a key role in pressing humanity to the brink of nuclear war.

#EuCommission #MilitarySpending #ArmsIndustry #UkraineWar #Nato-russiaWar

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/07/zmem-m07.html