Every EU member of NATO met the alliance's 2% defence spending target in 2025 for the first time.
But a closer look at the figures reveals a continent split in two: a handful of front-line states racing ahead, while a large group does the bare minimum.
At the same time, around 40% of defence equipment spending goes to suppliers outside the EU, according to a recent report by Oxford Economics.
European governments are spending more on defence than at any point since the Cold War. Yet the increase in military capability is smaller than the headline spending figures suggest.
European NATO members lifted defence outlays by 14% in 2025 to around €739bn, the steepest rise since the 1950s, according to SIPRI figures reported by Euronews in April.
