In an effort to give its 27 member states the financial means to react to possible foreign threats, the European Union is rushing to rearm, raising billions of dollars. However, industry insiders caution that Europe’s armed services face serious recruitment and retention issues despite these aggressive spending plans, which are bolstered by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) increased defence commitments.
Emmanuel Jacob, president of the European Organization of Military Associations and Trade Unions (EUROMIL), stated, “In the end, we need to have enough people to deal with these investments.”
The issue is not new, Jacob continued, but the increasing urgency is what has changed. The European Commissioner for Defence, Andrius Kubilius, also described in February the size of the workforce needed to sustain this extraordinary military expansion. According to European intelligence assessments, he stated in Vilnius, “Imagine it’s 2030 that’s the year intelligence services say Russia will be ready and willing to test NATO— and 100,000 Russian soldiers are building up at the EU border and NATO border. We would need to move comparable numbers of soldiers and equipment, and quickly, to match a 100,000-army build-up.
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