DISINFO: Increase in defence spending will lead to NATO collapse
SUMMARY
The disastrous increase in defence spending by NATO countries will lead to the collapse of this organisation.
RESPONSE
This is a mix of several recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO, economic difficulties and an ‘imminent collapse’.
This disinformation story is a direct reaction to NATO’s decision to rise defence spending target to 5% of GDP by 2035. While the measure is controversial from an economic point of view and its funding can be challenging for some member states, no serious analysis has suggested that it could lead to the “economic collapse” of the alliance, as this disinformation story claims. The European Union has established several mechanisms to facilitate this expenditure, including a 150 billion euros fund for joint defence procurement called the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument and a flexibilisation of fiscal rules to allow further spending, increasing the feasibility of this initiative. In all NATO member states, military expenditure is a fraction of the education and healthcare budget, and it will remain so in most cases even if the 5% increase takes place.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO’s defence demands will bankrupt Europe, that the EU’s rearmament could destroy its economy according to Politico, that Europe justifies the increasing defence budgets with “belligerent” Moscow, that ReArm Europe means the EU is preparing to attack Russia, that Europeans are starving because of NATO-driven confrontation with Russia, or that Brussels works to bankrupt European citizens through its defence strategy.