(L-R) EU Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for a special session of the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday amid a rapidly envolving international security picture. Photo by Christophe Petit Tesson
March 6 (UPI) — Leaders from all 27 European Union nations, plus Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, gathered in Brussels on Thursday for an emergency summit on how best to support embattled Ukraine and strengthen the continent’s defense as the United States distances itself from its traditional allies.
An unprecedented $841 billion “ReArm Europe” plan will top the agenda after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was supposed to unveil it at the summit, went ahead and announced the package of national defense budget hikes and EU loans Tuesday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump cutting off all military assistance to Ukraine.
“A pivotal moment for Europe is here. We are ready to mobilize up to $841 billion to help EU countries increase defense spending. We’ll present our proposals to all EU leaders at today’s European Council meeting,” the commission wrote on its account on X. “Europe is resolved to assume its responsibilities.”
The EU leadership will be seeking political endorsement of $157 billion in new loans called for by the package ahead of an official decision at the council’s next meeting on March 20 and to bring renewed momentum on the defense of Ukraine to the table to discuss how the bloc can further support Ukraine and establish indefeasible principles going forward.
Opening proceedings, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said it was “about damn time” European leaders stood up to “say that we are ready to put finally our money where our mouth is on Ukraine.”
“This is something that we have been asking for a long time: that the European Union, that Europe is capable of standing up on its own two feet. That’s why we’ve been saying we need to scale up. We need to be prepared. We need to produce and we need to protect,” said Metsola. “That is essentially what our citizens are asking from us.”
Ahead of the summit, seismic shifts appeared to be afoot after French President Emmanuel Macron stated in an address to the nation that France — the only nuclear-armed nation in the EU — would consider sharing the deterrent provided by its nuclear arsenal with its neighbors.
Macron spoke of the imperative to defend “democracy and a certain idea of truth,” saying the people of Europe were “rightfully concerned by events shaking the world order” and that it was time for the continent to address the situation.
However, the focus on Ukraine ran into issues even before the summit got underway, with long-running splits within the EU, in particular, Hungarian and Slovakian opposition to military and financial support for Ukraine — threatening to upend what was hoped to be a high-profile show of European solidarity.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala warned that should the summit fail to break the deadlock over Ukraine, the EU should focus on building a consensus on strengthening its own defense and security and that building a “coalition of the willing” may require looking beyond Brussels to new formats, working with partners such United Kingdom, Norway, and Canada.
Valerie Hayer, the leader of the Renew Europe grouping in the European Parliament, warned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban not to follow through on his threat to veto a draft text calling for more assistance to Ukraine, and for Slovakia’s Robert Fico not to join in.
“If they prefer to play Putin’s game, we will go without them,” she said, but stressed she held out hope that all 27 EU leaders would be able to reach a consensus.
