Guns or butter? To build up the military capacity vital for self-protection, European nations will have to make painful choices
However Russia’s war in Ukraine ends, Europe is staring uncomfortably down the barrel of a decade of defence. A wounded, vengeful Russia will remain a threat as long as Vladimir Putin, or like-minded successors, are in power. There is no way back to the post-cold war security order, which was cracked by Moscow’s assault on Georgia in 2008, ruptured by its annexation of Crimea in 2014, and finally shattered by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.
The end of Europe’s “holiday” from defence is going to be expensive and impose painful choices between guns and butter, which the left will find particularly uncomfortable.
Paul Taylor is a senior fellow of the Friends of Europe thinktank and author of the report After the war: how to keep Europe safe
