Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – EU leaders met with President Zelensky for the Special European Council and informally committed to invest more on defence.
On March 6, European leaders discussed defence expenditure and the situation in Ukraine. All member states but Hungary agreed on increasing military support and security guarantees for a lasting peace in the country.
The EU wants to take on more responsibility for its own security, explained President von der Leyen, which is why the Commission proposed a plan to mobilize up to 800 billion euros in defence expenditure and ensure flexibility in fiscal rules to allow member states to invest more.
“We are putting our money where our mouth is,”
Said President of the EU Council Antonio Costa.
Despite rumours that he would attend online, President Zelensky travelled to Brussels and joined the meeting in person.
“It’s great that we are not alone. We feel it, we know it. Thank you so much for everything,”
He told the press before going in.
EU gets ready for rearmament
President von der Leyen’s ReArm Europe plan would allow member states to invest more – with 150 billion euros of loans – in defence without triggering the Excessive Deficit Procedure, using more EU budget funds and creating incentives to use them for defence-related investments.
The goal is to provide the Union with pan-European capabilities domains, from air and missile defence to cyber and military mobility needs. This move fits into the EU’s recent commitment to increase its autonomy and competitiveness on many fronts and to provide greater military support to Ukraine.
The backlash came from some MEPs, who accused von der Leyen of being “afraid of democracy”. MEP Mario Furore from The Left group described ReArm as a non-democratic plan, as it doesn’t directly involve the EU Parliament. “This attempt to silence the voice of citizens’ representatives is unacceptable,” Furore said.
ReArm EU was welcomed positively by the Council.
The EU reclaims its role in negotiations over Ukraine
The European Union tried to regain its seat at the Ukraine war negotiation table. Leaders agreed that “there can be no negotiation that affects European security without Europe’s involvement,” and affirmed that Ukraine is part of the European family and their futures are intertwined.
The Special Council was called by EU Council President Antonio Costa precisely to address the change of scenery in the Ukraine war. As U.S. President Trump started to move forward with his plan to end the war in Ukraine a few weeks ago, Europe felt left out.
“We all want peace through strength, and this is also in the interest of President Trump, and if he wants to achieve this, it is only possible with the support of the European Union and its member states,” said von der Leyen, insisting how the EU ensured the economic survival of Ukraine and its energy system and provided crucial military support.
The idea behind the European rearmament plan is to ensure peace through the deterrent of greater defence capability and to reinforce Ukraine’s position in a possible peace agreement. Both Present Costa and President von der Leyen agreed that “The best security guarantee is the Ukrainian army.”
Moving in the same direction, Macron also offered to extend the protection of France’s nuclear arsenal to its allies, including Ukraine, and next Germany’s Chancellor Merz is supportive of increasing military spending and ready to do “whatever it takes” on defence.
At the same time, there was not full unanimity on support for Ukraine as there was on defence. Hungarian President Orban opposed it, as it doesn’t align with Trump’s views and initiatives to reach a deal on the Ukraine war.
“Hungary is isolated,” Costa commented, but one country out of 27 will not create a fracture among us, he said confidently. “26 is more than one.”
European leaders will meet again on March 20-21, 2025 for the European Council, and they are expected to move forward in this direction and formally agree on these next steps.
