The European Commission of the European Union (EU) is hoping measures it rolled out in March could see €800 billion invested into defense before the end of the decade, Euronews reports.

EU finance ministers on Tuesday granted 15 member states the right to deviate from the bloc's fiscal rules in order to massively ramp up defense spending. 

“At this critical juncture, investment in our defence capabilities must remain our top priority," Stephanie Lose, Economic Affairs Minister for Denmark, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, said in a statement.

The measure allows those member states to boost defense spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) annually for four years without consequences even if this brings their total deficit over the 3% of GDP limit mandated in the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP).

The countries that have seen their request to activate the national escape clause in the SGP approved are Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Germany has also asked to benefit from more lenient fiscal rules for defense but the Council of the EU is not yet in a position to make a decision as Berlin, whose new government took office in April, has not submitted its medium-term fiscal-structural plan outlining the priority public investments and reforms for the coming years. They're expected to do so before the end of the month, with their request to activate the national escape clause likely to be voted on in September.

It is part of the EU's €800 billion 'Readiness 2030' plan to ramp up defense expenditures over the coming four years with the European Commission previously estimating it could see up to €650 billion poured into the sector.

The 16 EU countries that will benefit from more lenient fiscal rules are also members of the NATO military alliance that agreed late last month to more than double its defense spending target to 5% of GDP by 2035.

The new target represents a huge ask for some EU allies with a few—Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Romania, France, Poland, Slovakia—already targeted by Brussels with an Excessive Deficit Procedure due to the poor state of their public finances.

The 27 EU member states are meanwhile currently evaluating whether to participate in SAFE, the other major financial pillar included in the plan to rearm the EU. They're expected to pitch in their projects and requests for funding towards the end of the month with the Commission set to start raising the €150 billion for the scheme on the markets at the beginning of 2026.

The new EU arms race comes amid warnings by intelligence agencies that Russia could be in a position to attack another European country towards the end of the decade.