Europe aims at defense boost

White paper readied amid concerns over US role as security guarantor for EU

The European Union aims to dramatically boost its defense capabilities amid growing concerns of a less reliable United States as the bloc's traditional security guarantor, according to a white paper released by the European Commission on Wednesday.

The commission said the white paper "Readiness 2030" is "an ambitious packaging providing financial levers to EU member states to drive an investment surge in defense capabilities".

"The era of the peace dividend is long gone. The security architecture that we relied on can no longer be taken for granted," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.