MEMBERS of the European Parliament should support money being shifted from war to peace, a coalition of 800 organisations from across Europe said today.

The statement by Stop ReArm Europe comes ahead of a vote next week by the European Parliament to approve a 2026 budget package which the coalition says includes proposals to “pump unprecedented amounts of public money into militarisation and the arms industry.”

The coalition said it was calling on the parliamentarians “to reject this agenda of rearmament and redirect EU resources toward real peace, real security and real democracy.

“Europe stands at a crossroads: invest in life, or subsidise the machinery of death.”

The groups say: “Europe is being dragged into a new age of militarised politics, steered not by public need but by the powerful lobbying of arms companies whose influence has exploded across EU institutions.”

The influence of the arms companies has resulted in “a torrent of policies that subsidise weapons production, weaken ethical and environmental standards, and raid civilian budgets to fund an arms race that will make Europe — and the world — less safe.”

“Move the money from war to peace. Now. The next generation is watching and they deserve a future built on justice, solidarity and common security, not the profits of the arms industry,” the coalition said.