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In total EU member states have underfunded NATO by a total of £339 billion over the past five years - a staggering amount. The shocking report, titled ‘What the European Union owes the United Kingdom’, said Germany was the biggest offender, owing £107 billion over the past five years. Meanwhile Italy owed £68 billion, Spain £56 billion, the Netherlands £48 billion and France £18 billion. And the report also defended Britain amid claims Brexit will harm EU security, saying the UK is actually propping up other member states' military spending.

EXPRESS / GETTY The UK is propping up several EU states' NATO payments

EXPRESS Germany leads the countries who are underpaying NATO

It said, unlike other EU states, Britain is not “shirking its commitments” and any claims otherwise are “entirely unwarranted”. The report by the London-based Henry Jackson Society said it was actually supposedly die-hard EU states like Germany, France and Italy who were responsible for the greatest shortfalls in NATO spending. And the report said despite these failures by the bigger and richer states, ‘less affluent countries of Eastern Europe” had actually managed to boost their NATO spending as a percentage of GDP over the five-year period. And Britain consistently met its targets, to such an extent it was actually subsidising other EU states.

11 things you need to know about NATO Tue, February 14, 2017 NATO - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4th April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 11 Every member country, no matter how large or small, has an equal say in discussions and decisions. Photo shows: Signing the North Atlantic Treaty which marked the beginning of NATO, 1949.

The report said: “Excluding the UK, the only states belonging both to NATO and the EU that consistently (2012-2016) spend more than 2% of their GDP on defence (i.e., Greece) account for just 13% of the alliance’s total European surplus, meaning that the UK contributes 87%. “This means that Britain has effectively subsidised the security and defence of the European mainland by an extra US$23.9 billion from 2012-2016.” The report defended the UK despite allegations it was risking European security by quitting the EU. James Rogers, director of the Global Britain, said: “In recent months, the United Kingdom has been disparaged by many Europeans for its decision to leave the EU. Some have gone so far as to construct it as a kind of pariah state.

“However, as this Policy Briefing shows, this depiction is entirely unwarranted. Britain remains deeply committed to the security of Europe as the largest European military and foreign aid spender. “Moreover, most European countries, insofar as they have short-changed both NATO and the world's poorest people by hundreds of billions of dollars over the past five years, have their own shortcomings, which should not be overlooked.” It comes after US president Donald Trump said NATO members needed to “pay up”.

GETTY Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned NATO and EU states' payments