European leaders have responded to Trump’s questioning of NATO by committing to a massive programme of rearmament – exactly what Trump is demanding. The recent Brussels EU summit promised €800 billion of increased spending on weapons across the continent.
Starmer is leading the way, following Trump in slashing foreign aid, pushing for the maximum possible arms spending and for British and other European troops to go to Ukraine.
All this is premised on the idea that Russia is a threat to European security. Stop the War opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the Russian economy is smaller than Italy’s and only a little bigger than Spain’s. It is exhausted by war and even in the first weeks of its invasion in 2022 it failed to reach Ukraine’s capital Kiev. The idea that it is a threat to Warsaw, Berlin, Paris or London is delusional.
Starmer and other European leaders are talking up this threat as an excuse to try and militarise society and cut back on the welfare state. Here, the ‘need’ to spend more on security is being used as an excuse to cut the PIP payments to disabled people, to organise a massive assault on the civil service, and to introduce cuts of as much as 40% in some government departments.
This drive to war in Europe is being accompanied by continued military support for Israel as it continues its genocide and the repression of the Palestine movement across the continent.
Politicians with any imagination or sense of responsibility would be using Trump’s threats to NATO as an opportunity to push for a foreign policy based on diplomacy and co-operation rather than fuelling the drive to war. The money saved could be spent on crumbling hospitals, schools and a social care system in meltdown.
Stop the War is urging all our supporters to join our Welfare not Warfare campaign.