- Prime Ministers, the presidents agree on the defense expense plan, support for Ukraine.
- The impulse of defense has been promoted by the fear of Russia, concerns for Trump.
- Leaders ask their ministers to examine the proposals in detail urgently.
Brussels: European leaders supported plans to spend more in defense on Thursday and continue to support Ukraine in a world overturned by Donald Trump’s reversion in US policies.
The European Union Defense Summit in Brussels took place in the midst of fears that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, can attack an EU country below and that Europe can no longer trust the United States to come to their aid.
“Today we have shown that the European Union is increasing to the challenge, building the Europe of defense and standing with the shoulder of Ukraine,” said the president of the Antonio Costa meeting to journalists.
The EU leaders praised the proposals of the European Commission this week to give them fiscal flexibility on defense expense and borrow up to 150 billion euros ($ 160 billion) to provide EU governments to spend on their military.
In a joint statement agreed by the 27 Member States, the leaders asked their ministers to examine these proposals in detail urgently.
“Europe must assume this challenge, this arms race. And it must win it,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a special defense summit in Brussels.
“Europe as a whole is really able to win any military, financial and economic confrontation with Russia, we are simply stronger,” Tusk said.
French president Emmanuel Macron, who on Wednesday had told the French voters that Russia was a threat to France and Europe, said that all this was just a first step.
“Whatever happens in Ukraine, we need to build Autonomous Defense capabilities in Europe,” he said after the EU summit.
Supporting Ukraine
The EU leaders also expressed their support for Ukraine, but that statement was agreed without the Hungarian nationalist leader, Viktor Orban, a Trump ally, who is also cultivating ties with Moscow.
In their statement, the other 26 EU leaders emphasized that there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine, and promised to continue giving him help, according to a recent draft.
“We are here to defend Ukraine,” Costa said while he and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, both smiling widely, with the welcome to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to the summit, in a strong contrast with the clash between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval office last week.
But decades of dependence on American protection, divergences on financing and how France nuclear deterrence could be used for Europe showed how difficult it would be for the EU to fill the void left by Washington after it froze military aid to Ukraine.
Washington provided more than 40% of military aid to Ukraine last year, according to NATO, some of which Europe could not easily replace. Some leaders still had hope, at least in public, that Washington could be convinced again in the Redile.
“We must ensure, with great and wise heads, that the support of the United States is also guaranteed in the coming months and years, because Ukraine also depends on his support for his defense,” said the outgoing chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz.
Macron said the leaders supported Zelensky’s call to support the idea of a truce between the Russian and Ukrainian forces in the air and in the sea. Zelensky told EU leaders that such truce would be an opportunity to prove Moscow’s will to finish his three -year invasion.
Nuclear deterrence?
In a sign of the severity of the moment, Macron has said that France was open to discuss the extension of the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners.
This was found with cautionly positive reactions. Some, such as the president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausa, said that this “nuclear umbrella would serve as a really very serious deterrence towards Russia.” Poland said it was worth discussing the idea while some, like the Czechs, emphasized the need to keep the United States involved.
Trump has said that Europe must assume more responsibility for its safety. On Thursday he doubted his willingness to defend the allies of Washington’s NATO, saying he would not do it if they are not paying enough for their own defense.
His decision to move from the staunch American support to Ukraine to a more conciliatory position towards Moscow has deeply alarmed the Europeans who see Russia as the greatest threat.
Underlining the level of concern, the parties with the objective of forming the next Germany government agreed to lift the constitutional limits in loans to finance defense expense.
In another part of Europe, Norway will double more of its financial promise to Ukraine this year, while it also walks for its own defense expense, said Prime Minister.
