German defence chief: 'Europe should gear up for a war with Russia'

By the end of the decade, Europe could be in Moscow's crosshairs and EU member states should prepare by building up their defence capabilities, said German Defence minister Boris Pistorius.

In an interview for the German outlet Welt am Sonntag, Pistorius declared that Russian president Vladimir Putin's 'threats against the Baltic states, Georgia and Moldova must be taken very seriously' and that Europe 'could be facing dangers by the end of this decade', as reported by Euractiv.

Such remarks came out after Putin warned about 'problems' with Finland after the West 'dragged it into NATO', a fateful decision which will prompt Moscow to 'create the Leningrad military district there and definitely concentrate military units there'. At the same time, Putin also dispatched US President Joe Biden's fears that Russia would 'keep going' after taking Ukraine and eventually attack a NATO country as 'complete nonsense', adding that Moscow bears 'no geopolitical interest, neither economic, nor political, nor military, to fight with NATO countries', and has no territorial claims about any member of the Alliance.

Nevertheless, these words set an alarming bell for Pistorius, according to whom EU member states should rapidly adapt to the changed geopolitical landscape – and all the more so as the US could reduce its military presence on the continent to focus on China, especially in the event of Trump returning to the White House. 'It will take time for the defence industry to ramp up its capacities', he said, adding that Europeans 'now have around five to eight years to catch up – both regarding the armed forces, industry and society.

In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Berlin famously set up a €100 billion fund to rebuild its armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and pledged to align with the NATO-mandated target of 2% of GDP in military spending. In his speech at the Bundestag just days after the war broke out, Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the situation as a 'Zeitenwende', a watershed moment after which the world would no longer be the same. However, the much taunted overhaul of the country's military has failed to materialise, as the coalition government could not agree on the budget for 2024 until recently.

Last month, Pistorius released the new defence guidelines where it is written that Germany should get 'ready for war'. Given the country's pacifist culture (a historic byproduct of WWII), his remarks have unsurprisingly sparked political controversy. The document also included a call for increased cooperation at the EU level on defence matters, with Germany taking on a leadership role owing to its economic might and demographic potential. The Defence minister also hinted at the so-called Weimar Triangle, an informal forum for coordination between Germany, France and Poland, to which Berlin would be 'very interested' in adding a 'military component'.

However, defence cooperation with Paris has slowed down recently, and France (which is the Union's military powerhouse after Brexit) is seeking to strengthen its ties with the Polish corner of the triangle (especially now that pro-EU Donald Tusk has come back into the fold) as well as the UK and Italy. 

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