European leaders on Thursday supported a plan to continue supporting Ukraine in a world covered by Donald Trump’s US policy reversal.
The European Union’s defense summit in Brussels came amid fears that Russia, encouraged by the war in Ukraine, could next attack the EU country, and that Europe could no longer rely on the US and could not rely on its aid, Reuters reported.
“Today, we have shown that the European Union has risen to the challenge and is standing shoulder to shoulder with the Europe of Ukraine,” the chairman of the Antonio Costa conference told reporters.
EU leaders welcomed the European Commission’s proposal this week, giving them financial flexibility in defence spending, and co-borrowing up to 150 billion euros ($160 billion) to the EU government to spend on the military.
In a joint statement agreed by all 27 member states, the leaders called on the Minister to urgently consider these proposals in detail.
“Europe must take on this challenge, this arms race,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tass said at the Brussels special defense summit.
“All Europe can win military, financial and economic conflicts with Russia. We are simply becoming stronger,” Task said.
French President Emmanuel Macron told French voters on Wednesday that Russia is a threat to France and Europe, but this is just the first step in everything.
“No matter what happens in Ukraine, we need to build autonomous defensive capabilities in Europe,” he said after the EU summit.
EU leaders also expressed support for Ukraine, but the statement was agreed to by Hungarian nationalist leader Victor Orban and Trump’s allies.
In their statement, 26 other EU leaders emphasized that there were no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine, according to a recent draft, and vowed to continue aiding it.
“We’re here to protect Ukraine,” Costa said, adding that he and the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warmly welcomed Ukrainian President Vounaia’s Vounaia Vounair to the summit, in contrast to the clash between Trump and Zelensky last week.
But decades of dependence on US protection, differences in funding, and how French nuclear deterrence will be used in Europe showed how difficult it is to fill the void left by Washington after freezing military aid to Ukraine.
According to NATO, Washington provided Ukraine with more than 40% of its military aid last year. Some leaders still embraced the hope that Washington could return to the crease, at least publicly.