Speaking to the Reuters news agency at the Munich Security Conference, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said her country was already spending 2.2 percent of its overall economic output on the military and could not afford to spend more, even though there were additional military needs.
She stressed: “Our little country cannot do more than it is already doing. But more needs to be done in our region.”
Mrs Kaljulaid said the EU functioned as a redistribution mechanism, with money to be spent in those areas where it made the most sense.
In the case of security, that would clearly be the border areas, she argued, calling for a “true defence union” which included a mechanism to help all members meet security needs.
Mrs Kaljulaid also called for all NATO members to increase defence spending to meet the NATO target of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on the military by 2024.
Germany, whose spending now totals around 1.2 percent of GDP, will not meet the target by 2024, NATO officials have said.
Mrs Kaljudaid said: ”All alliance partners made the same commitments. The important thing is that there’s movement.”
Increasing prices for military equipment were complicating the effort by eroding countries’ buying power, she added.
In Estonia’s case, that affected even the purchases of ammunition.
She added: ”Even if we spent 2.5 percent, we would not be in a position to build up a sufficient deterrent.”
She stressed that even though Russia had proven unpredictable, particularly after its 2014 annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine, it was important to maintain dialogue with Moscow.
Mrs Kaljudaid’s remarks reflect ongoing concerns about security in the region, a source of tension between the West and Russia ever since the break-up of the Soviet Union saw Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia win their independence.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in recent years with a series of military exercises, and outspoken Estonian MP Eerik-Niiles Kross in December accused the West of being “soft on the Russians”.