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    Note that 1.5% of these 5% is only "defense related" which includes infrastructure but also hospitals and anything else that would be useful in a war. These are more palatable spending goals and probably already part of the budget but not currently included in the figures. However, even 3.5% of GDP would need great increases in spending, so this is a comment, not an answer. Commented Jun 25, 2025 at 12:03
  • 16
    What kind of answer are you looking for? The answer seems obvious: the population is scared by Russia, so they support increased military spending, and European politicians don't have to justify it since the electorate already supports it. Commented Jun 25, 2025 at 13:27
  • 26
    Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from NATO. And even if he doesn't, he's spread some doubt about whether we'd fulfill Article 5 obligations (he said yesterday that it's up to interpretation). So European countries are essentially being told that they're on their own, they can't depend on the US any more. Commented Jun 25, 2025 at 15:37
  • 5
    60% of the population supporting something sounds like the idea is supported, and the politicians are justified. You can't expect everyone to agree on something before you do it. Commented Jun 25, 2025 at 16:00
  • 10
    @sfxedit unless I'm much mistaken, 60% support in a democracy is actually huge. It's more than a 60-40 majority, since some number of the remaining 40% have no opinion, prefer a third option, do not respond, etc. Commented Jun 26, 2025 at 6:06