Honourable Members, we need to start working on the future of the European security architecture in all of its dimensions,

and with all of the speed and political will that is required.

Because the truth is, we have not been living with conflict merely since 2022, but for far longer.

The threats to our security and prosperity and our way of life come in many different forms,

and we all know them.

Europe has started to grasp the urgency and the scale of the challenge that is ahead of us.

But there is a lot more to do, and we need to move fast.

The threat of war might not be imminent, but it is not impossible.

The risk of war should not be overblown, but they should be prepared for.

This is an extract from Usura von der Leyen speech of last February, when she presented in a plenary of the European Parliament, the European

Defence Fund, a commission instrument to support research and development in defence.

In this speech, she calls for a turbocharge of the EU defence industrial capacity over the next

five years. What does she mean exactly? And what are the broader implication of this strategy?

I'm Kira Kasati from Counterbalance and today we will dive into this question with our guest,

Letitia Sedou from Enat, the European Network against Arms Trade. You're listening to EU Watchdog Radio.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine and more recently Israeli genocide in Gaza,

EU involvement in war politics, or lack of it, is not new to its citizens.

Yet far from the public eye, the EU has been driving a war agenda and the perceived need to

conflict is a top political priority. This means more military spending, more arms purchases,

more profit for the military industry, and also more risk for conflict

escalation. Leticia summarizes for us the figures of these spendings. So the EU 27 together

they have spent 300 billion US dollars last year, a bit over 300, 313 billion dollars313 billion in military spending, according to the super figures,

...