The European Union may struggle to achieve its target of military readiness by 2030, with continued dependence on the United States and fragmented national defence systems raising serious questions about Europe’s ability to respond to a major external attack.
A review by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) warns that, although EU member states are better prepared than they were before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, significant gaps remain.
“Achieving defence readiness in the EU by 2030 remains a challenge,” said ECA member Marek Opioła, who led the review.
Among the main obstacles are fragmented national defence systems, bottlenecks in Europe’s defence industry and continued reliance on the United States for critical military capabilities.
EU member states increased defence spending by 79% between 2020 and 2025, reflecting growing concern over Russia and pressure to meet NATO defence targets.
But spending more does not automatically mean becoming strategically independent.
The ECA found that 78% of defence equipment purchased by EU countries between February 2022 and June 2023 came from outside the bloc. The United States alone accounted for 63% of those purchases.
That dependence has become increasingly significant as European governments debate how to strengthen the continent’s ability to defend itself.
The auditors also warned that insufficient cooperation between national governments and fragmented defence industries risk duplicating spending while leaving critical military capability gaps.
Europe’s problem, therefore, is not simply a lack of money. It is also a question of coordination, industrial capacity and strategic dependence.
The ECA has previously highlighted weaknesses in European defence cooperation and military mobility, including the absence of a central EU body coordinating military-mobility measures.
The 2030 deadline has become particularly important amid assessments that Russia could rebuild its military capacity and pose a wider threat to European security in the coming years.
The message from the auditors is blunt: Europe is spending more on defence, but it still has work to do before it can confidently say it is ready to defend itself.
For the EU, the next four years will therefore be a test of whether increased defence spending can finally translate into real military capability, faster production, greater interoperability and less dependence on Washington.
