Europe should speed up arms production, Dutch defense minister says

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren Thursday called on European allies to boost their defense investments to ensure effective deterrence against Russia and other threats.

"We must re-learn as Europe deterrence, we must take a long-term view, that means making structural investments, strengthening our armed forces, because the EU cannot be a soft power without possessing hard power," she said at the Berlin Security Conference.

Ollongren argued that European countries should become "fit for war" if they want to prevent wars in the continent.

"For that, we need to replenish our stocks, ammunition, fuel, equipment, we need to boost the production capacity of the European defense industry," she said.

"We should speed up the production of weapons and ammunition," she added.

On the sidelines of the conference, Ollongren held a meeting with her German counterpart Boris Pistorius to discuss bilateral defense ties and international security issues.

The ministers later signed an agreement to enhance security and defense cooperation between the two neighboring states.