ABN Amro CEO Urges Europe to Fix Fragmented Defense Spending

The era of relying on stable global trade for security is over, according to Berard, who spoke at the WSJ Leadership Institute CEO Summit. She noted that traditional economic alliances are increasingly viewed as weaponized vulnerabilities. The core issue is not just a lack of funding following decades of post-Cold War underinvestment, but a systemic inability to coordinate. The recent collapse of a decade-long stealth-fighter project involving Germany, France, and Spain highlights this inefficiency, as internal disputes between Airbus and Dassault Aviation effectively killed the endeavor.

Beyond military hardware, Berard pointed to the volatile energy landscape as a primary economic threat. While Europe entered the year with strong growth and solid oil reserves, a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz would hit a critical tipping point by the third quarter. This energy pressure is already fueling inflation, which Berard compared to an irreversible process—likening it to the impossibility of putting toothpaste back into a tube. As energy costs fluctuate, countries like Turkey are already grappling with inflation rates exceeding 30%, signaling a broader, persistent challenge for the European economy.