Online event: European military spending harms peace and the planet

When: Thursday 08 June, 5pm to 6.15pm CET

Join us on Thursday 8 June to know more about how a growing European military spending is a threat to peace and the planet, and who are the main profiteers of the war economy, with the presentation of our data collection work on the top European arms companies for 2022.
We will also discuss how civil society could join forces to oppose the forthcoming increase in military spending, and fight for a better use of taxpayers’ money to respond to the real current challenges facing humanity, such as the climate crisis, pandemics, deforestation, floods, loss of biodiversity and many more.

Background:
European leaders, from French President Macron to the EU High representative Josep Borrell, are telling us that we have to enter a war economy, and that increased military spending and arms production are the only way to defend peace and protect European citizens from future “threats”, including climate change impact. Yet the increase in military spending in Europe, and the militarisation of the EU in particular, began long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which serves primarily as a justification for accelerating a process already underway.
Peace movements and environmental organisations are increasingly aware that their struggles are converging, and that militarisation, climate change and environmental degradation are inextricably linked beyond the well-known oil wars. There cannot be decarbonization without global demilitarisation and reduction of military spending, in the same way that there cannot be peace without significantly reducing our impact on the environment and climate. Our planet can’t afford further militarization and warmongering. War costs us the Earth.

An event organised by ENAAT (European Network Against Arms Trade) in cooperation with Stop Wapenhandel.

Speakers:
Laëtitia Sédou, ENAAT (EU)
Sam Perlo Freeman, CAAT UK
Chloé Meulewaeter, IPB/Centre Delás
Wendela de Vries, Stop Wapenhandel
The event will be in English

Please register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtcuiopjMpHtSkB31vmtsRL4DgmHozWeg9

more news

The competitiveness trap: How EU ‘simplification’ fuels a global arms race

3 March 2026

This piece was first published as an Opinion article on EUobserver, ‘How the EU is deregulating arms-control to be like any other industry‘ For most citizens, terms like “simplification” and “harmonisation” sound positive. However, within the Brussels’ EU “bubble,” they are used as a Trojan horse for massive deregulation. Specifically, a new legislative package—the Defence Readiness Omnibus—threatens to overhaul how weapons are produced and sold, creating a dangerous precedent for global security. As “Trilogue” negotiations begin under the Cyprus EU Presidency, the stakes could not be higher. Under the guise of “completing the internal market” for defence and