EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose dedicating part of a new European Competitiveness Fund to resilience, defence and space, the EU executive's leadership said on Wednesday.
The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget.
"The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday.
"This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote.
EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
NATO's United Front Tested As Trump Hammers Spain
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. NATO, together, has an "ironclad commitment" to its collective defense. Or, at least, that's what a long-awaited, if brief, communique published by the alliance on Wednesday said, as it rounded off its biggest summit of the year. Article 5 — perhaps the ultimate sign of unity — is fully intact, the alliance said. Trump, a notorious NATO skeptic, has at several points heaped doubt on just how seriously he takes Article 5, including as he set off on his journey to The Hague. Article 5 is part of NATO's founding treaty, meaning if one country is attacked, all other nations must see it as an attack on the whole alliance and respond as they see fit. Trump has not been shy or reserved in his criticism of European allies and Canada, whom he deemed were not pulling their weight in NATO. The U.S.'s allies agreed, trying to present a united front for months by pledging to raise defense spending, partly to keep the Americans on side. But it was not Trump who cast doubt on NATO solidarity this week in The Hague and what he termed a "highly productive" summit in a "beautiful" country. It was Spain, whose prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced in the run-up to the summit that Madrid would not be raising its defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. This is the figure Trump and his senior officials have demanded. It is also the number that was considered completely unrealistic even a few months ago. Even during the Munich Security Conference in February, when Vice President JD Vance eviscerated European politicians from the stage in front of them, there was little indication that 5 percent could be deemed feasible in the near future. But NATO rubberstamped a commitment on Wednesday to dedicate 3.5 percent of GDP to the military, plus another 1.5 percent to defense-related areas like cyber or infrastructure. President Donald Trump meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. President Donald Trump meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. AP Photo/Alex Brandon "It was not easy but we've got them all signed onto 5 percent!" NATO chief Mark Rutte said in screenshots of texts to Trump, posted by the president to social media on Tuesday. All but Spain. Madrid said again on Wednesday that it will be able to fulfil the new targets each country has been set without reaching 3.5 percent of GDP on core defense spending. Rutte told journalists on Monday the alliance was "absolutely convinced" it could not. Attendees at The Hague expressed a hope that Spain will eventually come around and increase its spending. If Madrid starts "lagging behind because they're not willing to spend enough, then there will be a serious discussion with Spain, and there will be much more pressure," retired Admiral Rob Bauer, who until last year served as the head of NATO's Military Committee, told Newsweek. Trump, meanwhile, appears to have opted for punishment of the U.S.'s ally. "They want to stay at 2 percent—I think it's terrible," Trump said during his press conference, which closed the summit on Wednesday. "I don't know what the problem is. I think it's too bad." Trump said he would "make them pay twice as much" in a trade deal currently being negotiated. Spain, as of 2024, did not meet the current 2 percent threshold each alliance member is, on paper, supposed to reach. It is not considered a major military powerhouse in Europe. "It doesn't really matter if Spain misses a target," one prominent attendee remarked. "It's a minor dent on an unimportant part of the vehicle." But the PR value does matter, at least to the U.S. Spain recusing itself from the 5 percent pledge is a "big problem," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Politico. "I don't think that the agreement that Spain has reached is sustainable, and frankly it puts them in a very tough spot with regards to their other allies and partners," he added. One of these allies could be Estonia, a country staring down Russia that committed to spending 5.4 percent on defense on average for the next four years — or an extra $3.2 billion. Tallinn would try to meet NATO's new capability targets "as quickly as possible," the government said as it announced the decision in April. Exact NATO capability targets, assigned to each country and decided in early June, are classified and separate from the spending goals. If Spain had said it would not meet the capability targets, this would have been a much bigger concern, Bauer said. "Of course, I would have been more happy that everybody's following exactly the same standards," said Margus Tsahkna, Estonia's foreign minister, when asked about Spain's defense spending. But "unity is important as well," Tsahkna added to Newsweek. Publicly, there were enthusiastic nods to unity. Photos featuring smiling NATO leaders nodded to it, said Jim Townsend, a former Pentagon official. But NATO "has had fractures, always," he told Newsweek. "There's never been a totally unified NATO to begin with." Even still, he added, "all the nations want to have unity here." "There's always something," said Bauer. Attendees in The Hague have framed the defense spending pledge and snappy communique as a response to the threat of Russia, not just the biting condemnation of the U.S. president. "The biggest change for me was not President Trump," said Bauer. "The biggest change was the development of the threat — which is Russia, which was terrorist organizations," he added. On the horizon, too, is China, the former military committee chief said. "Time is against us — the Russian threat is real," said Ulysse Ellian, a Dutch lawmaker from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, previously led by Rutte. "For most of the allies, they do feel the sense of urgency," he told Newsweek. "It's natural some of them don't, and then we have to convince them." Even now, some countries still need cajoling, Tsahkna said. The countries forming the spine of NATO's eastern flank, brushing up against the Russian border, have surged defense spending far quicker than Western and Southern Europe. Spain, geographically far from Russia, looks south to Africa more than toward the north and east. Across most parts of NATO, though, there is a widespread feeling that defense spending across the board must rise, and rapidly. This year's concise communique, homing in on defense and tossing other topics to the wayside, "highlights that Europe's need to spend more on defense is one thing all Allies can agree on," said Rachel Rizzo, a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Europe Center. But now the hard work begins, Rizzo said. "It's a long road ahead."
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Takeaways from the Trump-dominated NATO summit
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO's summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday has been described as 'transformational' and 'historic.' 'We're witnessing the birth of a new NATO,' Finland's President Alexander Stubb said. The 32 members of the world's biggest security organization endorsed a plan to massively ramp up defense spending, 'back to the defense expenditure levels of the Cold War,' as Stubb put it, driven by U.S. President Donald Trump and fears of the security threat posed by Russia. Here are some of the takeaways from the two-day meeting in The Hague. The nonbinding spending agreement means a steep budget hike for NATO's European members and Canada that will cost them tens of billions of dollars. It's a major revamp of the way NATO calculates defense spending. Until now, the allies had set a target of 2% of gross domestic product for their defense budgets. Now they'll be aiming for 3.5% by 2035. They'll now be able to include weapons and ammunition they supply to Ukraine in the equation, making the new target slightly easier to reach, but still difficult for Canada and a number of European countries with economic troubles. On top of that, the allies will dedicate 1.5% of their GDP to upgrading infrastructure — roads, bridges, ports and airfields — needed to deploy armies to the front. Money spent on protecting networks or preparing societies for future conflict can be included. Progress will be reviewed in 2029, after the next U.S. presidential election. Not everyone is on board. Spain officially refused the agreement. Slovakia had reservations. Belgium, France and Italy will struggle to meet the new target. The leaders reaffirmed their 'ironclad commitment' to NATO's collective defense clause, Article 5. In recent years, Trump had sowed seeds of doubt about whether the U.S. — NATO's most powerful member — would come to the aid of any ally under attack. Trump had appeared to condition that support on higher defense spending. With NATO's new spending pledge in the bag, he told reporters that 'I left there saying that these people really love their countries. It's not a ripoff. And we're here to help them protect their country.' He added that 'they want to protect their country, and they need the United States, and without the United States, it's not going to be the same.' After Russia invaded Ukraine by launching the biggest land conflict since World War II in 2022, NATO summits have largely focused on providing support to Kyiv. This summit was different. Previously, the emphasis was on Ukraine's membership prospects and on bringing it closer to NATO without actually joining. But the final summit statement this time made no such mention. Instead, the leaders underlined 'their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was at the venue. He dined with other leaders at the Dutch king's residence, held talks with several leaders and spent half an hour or so with Trump. NATO's plan was to focus the meeting only on Trump's pet cause, defense spending. Foreign ministers did meet on the sidelines with their Ukrainian counterpart in an official NATO-Ukraine Council. In a minor win for Ukraine, and for allies needing to persuade citizens that their governments must spend more on defense, Russia was identified as the standout of the 'profound security threats and challenges' facing NATO. If there were doubts that the United States runs NATO, the summit removed them. A very shortened summit and one-page statement were prepared to keep the U.S. president happy and focused. As Trump flew to the Netherlands, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte sent a text message gushing about him being on the verge of a great achievement and saying, 'Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.' Trump posted the message on social media. Rutte said he wasn't embarrassed and that it was all true. After the meeting, Trump said he came to the summit seeing it as a political chore, but he was leaving convinced that the assembled leaders love the alliance, their own countries and, mostly importantly, the United States. He called NATO leaders a 'nice group of people' and said that 'almost every one of them said 'Thank God for the United States.''
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
What's next for Tesla as its European demand evaporates
Tesla (TSLA) stock slides after data showed that the company's European sales dropped nearly 28% in May, even as overall electric vehicle (EV) demand in the region rose. Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Pras Subramanian joins Asking for a Trend host Josh Lipton and Fundstrat Global Advisors managing director and global head of technical strategy Mark Newton to discuss what's behind Tesla's slump and how the stock might move going forward. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. Tesla shares went downhill today as more negative data emerges in its core auto business. Yahoo finances price of Meranian joins us now with more prize. Tesla European sales down for the ACA uh trade group in May to about 13,800 units. That's down 27.9% compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, overall sales in the region were up 25% in Europe. And this despite the new Model Y being available. So, what's going on here, Josh? It's kind of more of the same that we've been talking about. There's the must factor, the must factor alienating buyers with his support of far right-wing figures. And of course, there's better competition from Chinese makes like BYD, SAIC, as well as Volkswagen, right, the legacy automakers. So, same story in Europe, demand evaporating. Big question is, will it ever recover? Prize with the headlines. Let's bring back in our expert contributor, now Fundstrat Global Advisors, Mark Newton to discuss some recent moves with Tesla. You look at the technicals on this one, Mark, what do you see? It's encouraging. The stock's been up 15% over the last three months. I mean, obviously it's had a tough first half of the year. Always discouraging when a stock becomes uh more political, but honestly, you know, Tesla's back half of the year is shaping up to be very, very good. I mean, they had a great first weekend with this uh robo taxi rollout. We know that the combination of both FSD and self-autonomous both could account for potentially a trillion dollars in the next five years. Uh and a lot of that is not being shown right now in the current data. So it is sort of a show me stock. Elon always over promises and to some extent has under delivered, but yet uh the stock is is something that is very promising for me. Uh I like the stock a lot. I think getting back above 349 would put it back towards uh new all-time highs. And so I I'm uh, you know, bullish. My cycle projections show the stock continuing to rise in the back half of the year, much different than the first part of the year. So I like it. Prize, let me ask you just back to fundamentals there. When you think about competition for Tesla in Europe, where is that primarily coming from, Prize? I mean, is it China, domestic, you know, European players, both? Yeah, you know, you saw you see some upside uh some upside sales here for for BMW, right? And also, Volkswagen, I mentioned a lot of new smaller models coming out that are playing in spaces that Tesla isn't operating. Same with the Chinese auto makers, they're not operating that that that that sort of cheaper market, the sub 25,000, 30,000 euro market where those other players are operating. Now we Tesla's long been saying that they are going to come out with this cheaper EV. Uh they've been saying that now for the past year. We haven't seen it yet. We're all kind of anxiously waiting to see what it is. What is it? Is going to be a smaller car? Is it going to be like a D content Model Y? We'll see, but what Mark was saying is absolutely right because uh tell about technicals too. The stock is totally divorced from fundamentals, right? We talk about poor European sales, stock down a bit, but it's been up a lot recently. Uh the stock is a momentum stock, right, Mark? And I think that uh as you see in second half of the year, seasonality seasonality wise, that stock tends to do better. Yeah, absolutely right. Look, you look at the first part of the year, a lot of these sales are from time when when Elon was still affiliated with administration. And so it might not account for the current day. It's more of what happened in in recent history. And I think that sentiment uh should start to change in my view going forward. All right, thank you, Prize. And a big thank you, of course to Mark Newton for hanging us with this this afternoon. Some final thoughts, Mark. Nasdaq 100 at new all-time highs. I think Nvidia at new time highs. Uh S&P will get there sooner than later at a time when breadth is slowly but surely starting to expand. That's a good sign at a time when the economy seems to be working, earnings are good, and geopolitical risks are easing. So, investors don't seem to be all in on stocks by a long shot. People are still concerned for the right reasons. That's generally a time you still want to stick with the trend with markets at new highs. Not so much a technical question for you, but a question for a guy who's watched the markets for a long time. You go back to early April to liberation day, right? Sky is falling, run for the hills. What do you just make of the move here? Are you surprised by how fast and hard we've come back? I look at sentiment, I look at cycles. I think they're more important for me in determining where prices can go rather than Fed speak or earnings or any of those. So, you know, there was classic signs of capitulation that happened at the April lows. Um and I put out a report actually in April that said stocks are close to bottoming. I I am surprised of course that we're back at new all-time highs. You can see a bounce, but the fact that tech carried through as quickly as it did uh very, very encouraging. For my great great grandfather, Isaac Newton, you don't ever want to fight trends. Never things that are accelerating cannot be moved without sufficient force. So, like technically, things are in great shape and and sentiment has been a key reason why investors want to stick on board and and try to divorce themselves from what's happening in the world and just concentrate on their portfolios. When you call that bottom, did you get any push back from clients on that? Uh I got a lot of pushback, of course. I mean, I think that people uh think you're you're crazy when when we see markets selling off to the extent they did specifically in late March. I happen to be in in Latin America and so trying to write reports while being in Medellin and and Lima, it's not fun to have to go back and address the volatility and people look at you a little funny. So, uh happy that things worked out and and you know, it's encouraging to see both Tom Lee and myself have been, you know, optimistic and and saw reasons as to why stocks should have bottomed and pushed higher. Uh and still reasons for optimism, you know, I think in in the back half of this year, even if we get a bumpy fall. So, um happy for the recovery. Mark, great to have you on Saturday. Thank you, sir. Good to have you. Thank you. Great to be here. Thanks. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
