Orange live: Financing a secure Europe
5 June 2025
Reading time: 3 min
The latest edition of our Orange live client event, featuring General David Petraeus, former CIA Director and US Army (Ret.). was broadcasted live to clients and colleagues around the world on 3 June 2025.
During Orange live events, international speakers and industry leaders address themes that impact businesses everywhere. In this latest edition General David Petraeus reflects on what it takes to finance a secure Europe in a time of geopolitical uncertainty—and what that means for the banking sector.
General David Petraeus was joined on stage by Gerben Edelijn, CEO of Thales the Netherlands, Rein Graat, head of Risk for wholesale banking and Marieke Blom, head of research at ING.
Here are some of the highlights of the event:
On the topic of building up a military to deter future wars, General David Petraeus US Army (Ret.) mentioned that “you spend a lot less to prevent war than you do if you end up having to fight it. So, dollars, euros, whatever spent on deterrence are generally very, very well spent."
Gerben Edelijn, CEO of Thales the Netherlands added that “the issue we have in Europe is that we have 27 countries that all make their own decisions.”
Chief Commercial Officer of ING Wholesale Banking, Mark Pieter de Boer reiterated that ING has moved from “no unless to yes, provided that”. Meaning that ING is open for financing materials that are used in Europe 32 countries, except for financing controversial weapons.