European defence and security could be undermined by the lack of support for Nato by European Union leaders, three former military chiefs have claimed.
Lieutenant General Jonathon Riley, Major General Julian Thompson and Major General Tim Cross, who commanded British forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Falklands, said the failure of states to spend enough means UK forces are being stretched.
Mr Riley, who co-authored a Veterans for Britain report released on Sunday, described the continent's defence policy as "threadbare".
The former deputy Nato commander in Afghanistan said: "No-one wants to spend money on defence rather than schools or hospitals.
"But history teaches us that there's a line beyond which cuts make for a dangerous and false economy. We have crossed that line.
"We still have time to plug those capability gaps. But only just.
"It is no dishonour to the brave servicemen of our continental allies to say this, many of whom have served proudly alongside British forces in joint deployments. But our continent's defence policy is threadbare."
The research paper, titled 2 per cent: The Threshold Margins Of Effective Defence, calls on other EU countries to spend more.
Just five of the 28 member states meet Nato's target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence, with "minimal consequences for not attaining", according to the report.
The paper makes 12 recommendations to Whitehall, including urging the British government to review whether "defence expenditure may in practice be acting as a general subsidy in support of the militaries of other nations".
It calls on other EU countries to up their share, but warns against the British government using that as an excuse to spend less.
Mr Thompson, who led the Royal Marines' landings in the Falklands in 1982, said: "European leaders are crossing their fingers and hoping that nothing bad will happen on their doorstep, and if it does, under an EU rather than Nato flag, that they will get bailed out.
"That is a dangerous assumption to make."
Last month, Britain's defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon and his US counterpart General James Mattis issued a challenge to other Nato states to commit themselves to year-on-year increases in defence spending, as they called for "fairer burden sharing" in the military alliance.
Speaking after talks in London, Sir Michael said: "Secretary Mattis and I have agreed that others must now raise their game and those failing to meet the 2 per cent commitment so far should at least agree to year-on-year real-terms increases."
