Under pressure from the arms lobby Europe has launched an unprecedented programme that would give the military industry billions of euros in public funding.

 

Instead of spending money to protect our environment and human rights, the EU wants to finance deadly drones, surveillance tech and powerful new weapons that our governments will then be free export to conflict-heavy regions. 

This is critical. If we don’t voice our opposition now, the arms lobby will succeed in hijacking European budgets. And we don’t have much time left. The European Parliament will vote in the beginning of July.

The top 10 European arms companies have more than doubled their lobbying budget in the last five years alone. And it seems to have worked. The new EU Defence Fund, launched in June 2017, is set to put nearly €40 billion in these companies’ pockets over the next 10 years. That’s over 30 times larger than the EU’s budget for human rights.

 

The European Union is already the world’s second-largest supplier of weapons, with about 40 percent of its exports going to the Middle East. By setting up this fund, the EU -- which ironically won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 -- is putting the interests of arms dealers over a chance for real peace. It’s taking away funding from the global issues that actually matter and giving in to Trump, who’s criticised Europe’s low defence spending.