Two Baltic presidents have urged other European countries to do more to prepare for a possible armed confrontation with Russia by looking at everything from conscription and a special defence tax to significantly increasing military spending, APA reports citing Financial Times.
Latvia’s Edgars Rinkēvičs told the Financial Times that European countries needed to return to “cold war-era spending” levels and should discuss the return of compulsory military service to boost defence forces’ manpower.
“There is a need for serious discussion about conscription,” Rinkēvičs said.
Rinkēvičs acknowledged that military chiefs preferred to have fully professional forces and that compulsory service might prove unpopular.
“Nobody wants to fight,” Rinkēvičs said. “But the problem is nobody wants to be invaded as well. And nobody wants to see Ukraine happening here.”
Estonian President Alar Karis said in a separate interview that a special tax to fund military purchases was worth considering, while Europe should aim to match US defence spending at a minimum — implying a more than doubling of current levels.
Karis said the US accounted for 68 per cent of all defence expenditure within Nato, spending $860bn last year versus $404bn for European members and Canada.
“We have to do something. At least have it 50-50 [between Europe and the US]. It would be better for us,” he said.
“It’s one way to directly put money to defence and people understand where this money goes,” Karis said. He added that former US president Donald Trump was right to call for Europe to spend more. “It is our defence, and we should do it for ourselves,” he said.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
