EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday for a Special Defense Council, as French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was in the “turn of history”.
In addition to re -arranging, leaders are expected to discuss how the body can further support Kiev before a statement by US President Donald Trump on Monday that it will stop Ukraine's help. Ukrainian President Volodim Zelenski has been invited to the summit.
The nerves have since been destroyed throughout Europe since Showing Trump and Zelenski in the White House last weekAnd the rhetoric around the summit on Thursday leaves no doubt about the importance that EU employees attribute it.
Three years since Russia a full -scale invasion of UkraineThe tensions of the Trump administration to Russian President Vladimir Putin have left many in Europe, concerned that the continent will not be able to rely on US support for its security.
Washington's decision on Wednesday to pause to share intelligence with Ukraine He did nothing to ease these anxiety.
As a sign of the depth of concern, President Macron said that France was open to discuss the expansion of the defense offered by his nuclear arsenal to his European partners during a nation on Wednesday.
This was followed by a call from Friedrich Merz, probably the next chancellor in Germany to discuss increased sharing of nuclear.
Europe was faced with “Clear and present danger on a scale that none of us had seen in his life for adults,” said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, while European Council President Antonio Costa said it was a “determining moment for Ukraine and European security”.
In a letter to European leaders von der Leyen, he also said that the continent should “meet the moment” and “unleash our industrial and productive power and direct it to the purpose of security.”
On Monday, von der Leyen announced an unprecedented defense package – called Rearm Europe – and said Europe is ready to “increase” massively to increase its defense costs “with the speed and ambition required.”
Von der Leyen said that the three proposals outlined in the Rerym Europe plan will support Ukraine and deal with the long -term need to take on much more responsibility for European security – probably citing the fact that many Europeans believe that the continent can no longer rely on the United States.
Proposals include:
- Allow countries to raise national deficit levels to give space for more defense costs
- € 150 billion (€ 125 billion) for domestic defensive investment loans that could benefit from EU protection in general – for example, air and rocket defense, anti -wisdom and military mobility – helping the pool and reduction of costs through joint order
- Allowing countries to redirect funds intended for rapprochement policy programs (policies aimed at equalizing differences between more and less advantageous regions) to defense costs
The European Investment Bank will also be allowed to finance military projects.
According to Von Der Leyen, the plan can release a total of € 800 billion ($ 860 billion; £ 670 billion) in defense spending.
Many European leaders have signaled their support for SWIFT, decisive actions regarding the security of the continent.
Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, said the Commission's plan was a “fundamental change”, while Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausa said the summit would allow Europe to show “whether it is just a debate club or whether we can make decisions.”
But there is a disagreement from some European leaders involved in Moscow.
Earlier this week, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fiko said the EU's “peace of power” is “unrealistic”.
And in a letter to Costa Victor Orban from Hungary, he asked Ukraine not to be mentioned in written conclusions after the summit.
Orban – who has repeatedly tried to block the EU help for Ukraine and praised Trump for “standing for peace” – said he now has a “strategic division … between the majority of Europe and the US”.
“One side insists on an extension of war in Ukraine while the other is looking for an end to the conflict,” he added.
Still, Orban left the door open to “more likely to cooperate” with other general security and defense leaders.
While the summit of the crisis on Thursday is held in Brussels, the United Kingdom Defense Minister John Heli will be in Washington for discussion with his colleague Pete Heget on the US decision to share intelligence with Ukraine.
Their bilateral meeting will focus on a possible peaceful plan, while efforts continue to overcome the transatlantic gap over Kiev's future security.
Perhaps in the last offer to try to achieve unity before the summit, Emmanuel Macron – who positioned himself at the center of EU efforts to overcome the difference between Kiev and Washington – invited Orban to dinner in Paris on Wednesday night.
The two leaders met as soon as the French president gave a grim address to the nation, in which he said France and Europe should be ready if the US was no longer on their part.
“We must be combined and determined to protect ourselves,” Macron said. He added that the future of Europe cannot be tied to Washington or Moscow and said that although he “wants to believe that the US will remain up to our country, we must be ready for this to be so.”
The French president plans to meet the European Army's chiefs in Paris next week.
Macron said that “decisive steps” will be taken in Brussels, leaving the European countries “ready to protect and protect themselves”.
“The moment requires unprecedented solutions,” he concluded.