Heather Grabbe

1 month ago | bruegel.org | Rebecca Christie |Heather Grabbe |Guntram B. Wolff |Jeromin Zettelmeyer

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Rebecca Christie is joined by Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Peter Praet to discuss the economic outlook for Europe and the United States, the impact of prospective tariffs, and the role of monetary and fiscal policies. The conversation touches on the impact of geopolitical uncertainties, structural reforms, and the ongoing debate around defence spending in Europe.

1 month ago | bruegel.org | Rebecca Christie |Heather Grabbe |Guntram B. Wolff |Alexandr Burilkov

Executive summaryEuropean NATO members must raise defence spending by enough to deter through strength an irredentist Russia. This must be done possibly without the United States and when ageing populations demand higher social spending. Raising defence spending to sufficient levels could result in a doubling of current primary deficits to just over 3 percent of GDP on average. This seems likely to be a fiscally unattainable goal for this group of countries.

2 months ago | bruegel.org | Rebecca Christie |Heather Grabbe |Guntram B. Wolff |Alexandr Burilkov

This is a joint publication with Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Europe needs to be able to defend itself against Russia, with or without the United States. Here, we provide initial estimates of the additional weapons and troops Europe will need to defend itself, assuming effective US withdrawal from Europe. We focus on land warfare because invasion by Russia will remain for the foreseeable future the main security challenge to Europe.