Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 18 June 2025 - Strasbourg

Upcoming NATO summit on 24-26 June 2025 (debate)

  Pekka Toveri (PPE). – Madam President, High Representative, dear colleagues, we all know that the threat of Russia is acute and that time to prepare our defence is short. We also know that we are too weak and need to be stronger.

Some people claim that investing more in our defence will ruin our welfare. That is a clear lie. NATO countries used, before the end of the Cold War, for decades around 4 % of their GDP on defence, some even more. Germany used to have 2 500 main battle tanks plus 1 500 in reserve. Now they have less than 300. Holland had 450 tanks, now zero. But still NATO countries were able to build the base of the Western welfare system we all enjoy today.

To say that we can't afford to invest in our defence is a lie. We can do both defence and welfare, as long as we are wise and focused on how we use our money. What we can't afford is to lose thousands of people and rebuild our societies if our deterrence fails. Russia is an aggressive, imperialistic dictatorship which will threaten Europe even after Putin is gone. Now it's time to be strong, not weak. Si vis pacem, para bellum.