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Schoof finds new EU funding plans for defense unnecessary

by AI | 26.Jun 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof believes it is not necessary to adopt new funding plans for EU defense to meet the 5 percent NATO standard, he said before the start of the EU summit in Brussels. According to him, there are already enough funding plans on the shelf that the EU can work with for the time being.

The Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. (Photo: Ramon Van Flymen/ANP/dpa)

BRUSSELS (ANP) – He is referring, among other things, to the EU’s rearmament plans, which could free up to 800 billion euros for defense. But he also expects that the simplified EU rules for defense announced by the European Commission will free up funds. “A lot of measures have really been taken. It is really not necessary to talk about yet more new financing arrangements,” he said.

The eighteenth sanctions package against Russia is also being discussed. Regarding this, Schoof says he has “good hope” that the package will come. EU sources expect that no agreement will be reached on this at the summit, but that it will come later in the week.

(June 26, 2025)