"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." - EisenhowerEarlier this week, Finnish Finance Minister Riikka Purra told a local newspaper that cuts will need to be made to pensions in the country as it attempts to cut an additional โฌ3 billion from its budget. It was the latest in a string of European countries telling its citizens to prepare for belt-tightening even as the EU approved โฌ50 billion in aid for Ukraine.
The austerity measures by the Finnish government come as it is increasing its military budget to be in line with NATO's requirement that member nations spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense.
It also comes as New Fiscal Rules in Europe are set to constrain how EU member states can handle their debt, a move almost assured to lead to more austerity, as some of the countries with the highest debt-to-GDP ratios, including France, Italy and Poland, work to restock their military supplies after sending them to Ukraine.
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