A new form of debt is not going to fix that. There are two big problems. First, a new Cold War is not a one-off emergency. The last one ran for decades, and this one may well do so as well. It is not like bailing out the banks, or paying for Covid. Nor is it like the previous Cold War, during which period defence spending across major European powers gradually fell.
In all likelihood, containing rising global threats will require sustained spending over the next few decades, meaning we will need to commit real resources, not simply put it on the collective credit card.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, yet more debt will only weaken European economies even further. We have already seen extraordinary rises in debt to GDP ratios, particularly in France and Italy. Borrowing too much and living beyond our means is part of the problem. It is not going to be part of the solution.
Some military experts are now warning that, even in the Nato era, defence spending across Europe will need to rise to around 4pc of GDP.
It won’t just be a case of salami slicing elsewhere, we require radical reform of the social democratic welfare model, putting countries on a path to sustainable growth. That will involve difficult decisions which many Western politicians have been too eager to duck.
Right now, Europe’s broken economies are too financially weak to stand up to a resurgent Russia, or to its far more threatening ally China.
The price of that weakness may be very high, and the last thing we should do is delude ourselves that we can fix the challenge with yet more debt. That will only make us weaker, and more vulnerable, than ever.
