BRUSSELS — European Union leaders concluded an extraordinary summit on Saturday with a landmark agreement to establish a common defense spending framework worth €200 billion over the next seven years, marking the most significant step toward collective European security since the founding of NATO.
The deal, brokered after marathon overnight negotiations led by European Council President António Costa and strongly backed by France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, will create a jointly financed European Defense Investment Fund. The framework allows member states to issue common debt for defense procurement, a mechanism long resisted by fiscally conservative nations but now embraced under the pressure of geopolitical reality.
The agreement comes as the United States under President Donald Trump has continued to scale back its security commitments to Europe, repeatedly questioning the value of NATO and demanding that European allies shoulder a far greater share of their own defense. Russia's ongoing military posture along its western borders and the unresolved conflict in Ukraine have added urgency to the discussions. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country stands on NATO's eastern flank, called the agreement "a turning point for European sovereignty."
Under the framework, funds will be directed toward joint procurement of air defense systems, ammunition stockpiling, drone technology, and cybersecurity infrastructure. A new European Defense Procurement Agency will be established in Brussels to coordinate purchases and reduce duplication among member states. Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands secured provisions ensuring that small and medium defense contractors across the bloc will have access to procurement contracts.
The agreement was not without its detractors. Hungary's Viktor Orbán refused to sign the final communiqué, calling the fund "a war machine built on borrowed money," though his opposition was insufficient to block the deal under the qualified majority voting mechanism that leaders agreed to invoke. Austria and Ireland also expressed reservations but ultimately joined the consensus after securing opt-out clauses for certain offensive weapons categories.
Analysts said the deal represents a fundamental shift in European strategic thinking. "This is the moment Europe stopped outsourcing its security," said Claudia Major, a defense policy expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Markets responded positively, with shares in major European defense firms Rheinmetall, Leonardo, and Thales surging in after-hours trading on Friday as details of the impending agreement leaked.