Europas Versprechen, mehr für Militärs auszugeben, wird Klima- und Sozialprogramme verletzen | Der NATO -Ausgabenplan übersieht Risiken für die Sicherheit, die durch Umweltverstärker und sozialer Verfall erfolgt, sagen Ökonomen
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/24/europes-pledge-to-spend-more-on-military-will-hurt-climate-and-social-programmes
5 Kommentare
From the article: Europe risks choosing militarism over social and environmental security, economists have warned, as the head of Nato said all 32 members had agreed to increase weapons spending.
Analyses drafted in anticipation of a Nato summit beginning on Tuesday warned of the opportunity cost that higher military spending would pose to the continent’s climate mitigation and social programmes, which are consistently underfunded.
The alliance’s leading member, the US, and its Dutch secretary general, Mark Rutte, expect members to agree to proposals to dramatically raise defence spending targets from 2% to 5% of GDP.
But critics say the focus on military spending, which comes on top of big increases by European countries over the past few years, overlooks the risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay.
“Europe’s public finance debate has never been about what we can afford, but what governments choose to prioritise,” said Sebastian Mang, senior policy officer at the New Economics Foundation (NEF).
“Having already committed to higher defence budgets, plans to raise spending even further expose the double standard applied to investment in climate, housing and care.
“If extraordinary sums can be mobilised for the military, with far lower economic returns and much lower social benefits, then the refusal to fund a just transition and stronger public services is clearly political, not economic.”
European GDP rises 1-2% per year, so increasing defense spending from 2% to 5% would reduce remaining available wealth all the way back to where it was … 2 years ago.
Yeah, that ship has sailed.
America has set the world on fire, now Deep Adaptation to the realities of catastrophic climate change and thinking about a world for the survivors is the only thing left on the table.
The societal vandalism of this american administration means we have to focus on building up strength to defend ourselves – not only without America, but FROM America.
As you shouldn’t dismiss high cholesterol as an issue to be worried about, worrying about high cholesterol in a burning house is a bit myopic. If a petrol station with an army invades you, climate change will be the least of your problems.
Be wise and fix the roof while the sun is shining.
For anyone wondering why we have such severe issues in the U.S., it’s because a whole lot of our money goes into military spending instead of social programs, climate, clean air, clean water, and non-toxic food. The irony is that the least amount of our military spending goes to military veterans.
As a civilized country, our society is messed up, and the rest of the world should proceed with caution.