Brussels moves to speed up defence funding as reliance on US wanes
In an interview on EU security plans, Kubilius says Europe is now trying to achieve in just a few years what was previously left to take decades, as Washington signals it is shifting focus to other parts of the world.
/nginx/o/2026/04/24/17588821t1hcc29.jpg)
For decades, European countries largely relied on the assumption that the United States would provide the main guarantees for their security. That reliance allowed European states to repeatedly delay larger investments in their own defence capabilities and funding.
More recently, however, Washington has been sending increasingly clear signals that its attention is gradually shifting toward other regions of the world. This change in US strategic focus is pushing European Union institutions in Brussels to rethink their previous approach and act far more quickly than originally planned.
A "big bang" in defence financing
Discussing these shifts in an interview about the EU's security plans, Kubilius said that a process is now underway which he himself describes as a "big bang" in defence financing — an attempt to achieve within a few years what might otherwise have required several decades.
This accelerated pace reflects a broader realization within the European Union that relying on an external security guarantor is not sustainable once that guarantor itself begins redirecting its strategic priorities. As a result, Brussels is looking for ways to rapidly increase defence funding and strengthen Europe's ability to ensure its own security.
While the interview does not detail specific financing instruments or figures, Kubilius's remarks indicate that EU institutions now treat this issue as urgent and a priority, rather than a long-term theoretical task. The process he describes marks an attempt to compress into a short timeframe something that has traditionally unfolded gradually over a much longer period in the history of European security.
