READINESS 2030 – A NEW CHALLENGE FOR THE CONCEPT OF EUROPEAN DEFENCE
READINESS 2030 – A NEW CHALLENGE FOR THE CONCEPT OF EUROPEAN DEFENCE

Author(s): Radu CARP
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Security and defense
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: safeguard clause; budget deficit; fragmentation; defence industry; planning; Readiness 2030.
Summary/Abstract: In March 2025, the European Commission announced the adoption of measures to relaunch the defense industry at European level, amid the disengagement of the US armed forces from the European continent announced by the Trump Administration - Readiness 2030. The main idea of this plan is to allocate 800 billion euros to the defence industry of the member states, while 150 billion euros can be allocated through amounts allocated by the EU, and the rest through loans from EU member states that can exceed the 3% of GDP deficit limit for this purpose. Readiness 2030 is a plan to strengthen European defense, but it does not envision measures that would fundamentally alter the current landscape in the field. The reason is that it is based exclusively on the increase in the national appetite for defense spending and very little, almost not at all, on common spending at European level. Such an approach would not even have been possible; defense remains a royal domain of the EU member states. The possibility of the emergence of a European Defense Mechanism (EDM) is currently being discussed, through which joint acquisitions could be made and especially a strategic planning of the needs in terms of military endowment.

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