The head of foreign policy has warned that the European Union member states need to increase defense spending to keep pace with the threats facing the continent.
“All the euro spent in school, health care and luxury (was) is at risk” if the bloc does not maintain strong defenses.
She added that US President Donald Trump was right to criticize Europe's spending, which is on average of 1.9 %.
It also indicated that Russia spends 9 % of GDP (GDP) on the defense and said that Europe's expenses “are clearly not enough” in light of the war in Ukraine.
“To prevent war, we need to spend more, and this is clear,” she said to a newspaper Weekend for BBC World Service.
Class said that member states also need to work together to “pressure” economically on Russia, and hinted at a new sanctions package next month to celebrate six years of war in Ukraine.
She said that the European Union should be “creative” in terms of reducing “Russia's ability to launch this war,” adding that pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin “is the way to end this war because Putin is the one who started it.”
Before she occupied the position of the European Union last December, Class has repeatedly called for higher levels of defensive spending while working as the first Prime Minister in Estonia.
In February 2024, she said she wanted to increase NATO countries from defensive spending to 3 % of GDP.
The coalition members adhered to spend at least 2 % of GDP to defense after Russian forces seized the southern Crimea in Ukraine to control large areas of eastern Ukraine in 2014.
As Prime Minister Estonian, Class pledged more than 1 % of the country's gross domestic product to Kiev to help enhance the war effort of Ukraine.
“If every NATO country does, Ukraine will win,” I told the BBC last year.
according to NATO estimates for 2024Estonia's defensive spending as a percentage of GDP was the second highest in the military alliance.
In December 2024, NATO Secretary -General Mark Retty said that member states should “turn into a wartime mentality” and spend “more than 2 %” on defense.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump pressed NATO members to increase defense spending and later called for a commitment to meet 4 % of GDP.
Shortly before his second inauguration in January, Trump urged European NATO members to spend 5 %, and reported to the journalists: “They can all bear it.”
When she was asked if she had seen the war concluded in favor of Ukraine, Callas said that this was “still” alive in her mind.
She added: “I do not see any other option.
She said: “All the aggressors or potential aggressors in the world clearly receive notes how we interact with the aggression of Russia.”
