Thanks to Trump and Putin, Europe needs to be re-educated quickly. But can it be fast enough?
The Golden Leaf Hall of the Palace of Luxembourg in Paris has witnessed the French senators and other MPs for about 200 years, with countless moments of speeches, but the moment that later stands out belongs to Claude Malhuret and his inflammatory Donald Trump.
Malhuret, a 75-year-old doctor and lawyer, once led Médecins of Médecins, made headlines around the world in March, and translated eight minutes of speeches on social media and gave tens of millions of views on social media.
It killed the U.S. president, called him a “traitor” to the West, and posed a threat to European security.
“Trump’s message is that it’s meaningless to be his ally because he won’t defend you.” “He will impose higher tariffs on you on your enemies and threaten to seize your territory.”
“Europe is standing alone,” he said. He called on the continent to accelerate military aid to Ukraine to help it fight back the Russian invasion and quickly build European troops to make up for Trump’s selflessness.
In the weeks since the speech, military and security developments on the continent have moved at a dazzling speed. While Malhuret’s voice is just one of many voices making such arguments, he told CBC News that he felt comforted that his words might help inspire Europe’s biggest re-mount program in decades.
“Europeans are denying it,” he told CBC News in a recent interview at the Luxembourg Palace.
“The French people’s message [is] Very simple. We may have to defend Ukraine ourselves. The second message is that the Atlantic Alliance is in great danger. ” he said.
Earlier this week, Trump was once again wrongly accused of Ukraine of launching a war with Russia and continued to insist that President Vladimir Putin hopes for peace even if Russia bombs Ukrainian cities.
first step
While European leaders continue to work to change Trump’s mind, they have also taken major steps.
The EU said it plans to raise 150 billion euros ($236 billion in CDN) immediately for collective defense. In addition, many countries have announced their own measures.
The EU is considering a plan of more than $100 million and increasing defense spending after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended military aid to Kyiv, raising concerns that the EU will no longer rely on the United States to protect against Russian aggression.
Poland said it plans to build an army of 500,000 soldiers.
France said it intends to build a new generation of aircraft carriers and began talking about possible expansion of its nuclear umbrella to other countries.
Germany has unlocked hundreds of billions of euros for new infrastructure, many of which may be used for national defense.
The UK is no longer in the European Union, but is still keen to show broader leadership, and it is increasing its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, the largest such growth in four decades.
Big gap
Despite a series of announcements, a new report highlights the reality that European countries have freed from U.S. military power and technology and has done so quickly.
The report of the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank highlights the huge gap in defense production capacity that must be overcome.
It is worth noting that Europe lacks advanced defense technology.
For example, while the United States has increased mass production of its fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets, European factories are still driving away the fourth-generation European aircraft.
It also said that national competition is undermining Europe’s ability to produce high-quality systems on a large scale.
The United States focused its energy on producing one main chariot (M1 Abrams), while Europe produced seven, each country prioritized its own home-made models.
One of the authors of the report told CBC News that “procurement nationalism” or that products produced in its own markets favor European re-plans.
“The first step is that we have to take advantage of the economies of scale in the huge European market,” said Armin Steinbach, a non-resident researcher at Bruegel.
“This helps to scale production in a more efficient and less costly way.”
Can Canada’s defense support be moved to Europe as the Western alliance under U.S. President Donald Trump erode? As CBC’s Evan Dyer explains, the country’s underintensified army doesn’t have much in terms of the presence of troops, but there are other things that Europe needs.
Steinbach’s team is proposing a new pan-European defense fund “European Defense Mechanism” to facilitate joint procurement.
He said that in theory, non-European countries, including Canada, may contribute to the fund and benefit from it through cooperation in new military projects.
“We know that given what happened to the United States, Canada is also a redirected country,” Steinbach said.
The European Defense Minister first considered the Bruegel proposal last week, calling it a good starting point.
France is optimistic
During a recent trip to France, CBC News spoke with several senior European officials who were optimistic about the heavy effort, and they remain optimistic that they could execute the hardships in defense procurement needed.
“What we want to build is an EU that relies on its security,” former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told CBC News.
From January to September 2024, Attal served as prime minister for nine months before his Renaissance party lost power after President Emmanuel Macron called the SNAP election in an attempt to resist a surge in the far-right.
He remains an elected member of the French parliament and it is widely speculated that he can represent the president in 2027.
“Our vision is to invest more in the Ministry of Defense, buying the national budgets of Europe and the European defense industry, and to build some kind of European compass on our defense,” he said.
Svenja Hahn, a European Parliament member of the Liberal Democrat who represents the left, said she believes the security crisis caused by Trump and Putin will help overcome collective challenges.
“If we don’t want to be occupied by world bullies, then we really have to be the third superpower [after China and the U.S.],” she told CBC News at a forum in Paris.
Tough timing
While new fighter jets, tanks and complex missile defense systems may take years (even decades) to be developed and produced, Europe may be able to improve defense in other areas more quickly, especially drones.
“This is a huge priority,” said Rafael Loss, a researcher at the European Council on Diplomatic Relations in Berlin.
“The Ukrainians show you that you can have a huge production base without having to expand your production schedule a lot.”
He also said that the conventional armies in most European countries are too small at present, but they can be supported through new recruitment and training.
While the Bruegel report does not set a deadline for Europe to strengthen its own re-competition, the loss says planners may be considering several critical timelines.
“One with [duration] Trump’s presidency; the other is the lifespan of Vladimir Putin,” he told CBC News.
In other words, he said the army must be transformed quickly and new arms must be created quickly, because Trump still has three and a half years in his term. Meanwhile, Putin, 72, may also be inclined to speed up his ambitions to expand Russia’s territory to take over the neighboring Baltic countries.
Another important determinant of how much time it takes Europe to reorganize is the result of the Ukrainian war, the loss said.
“I think defeating Russia in Ukraine will minimize the risk of Russia escalating to European countries.”
