European Union\u2019s defence summit in Brussels take place amid fears that Russia may attack an EU country next
\n BRUSSELS
\nEuropean leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump\u2019s reversal of US policies.
\nThe European Union\u2019s defence summit in Brussels took place amid fears that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, may attack an EU country next and that Europe can no longer rely on the US to come to its aid.
\n\u201cToday we have shown that the European Union is rising to the challenge, building the Europe of defence and standing with Ukraine shoulder to shoulder,\u201d the chairman of the meeting Antonio Costa told reporters.
\nEU leaders hailed the European Commission\u2019s proposals this week to give them fiscal flexibility on defence spending, and to jointly borrow up to 150 billion euros ($160 billion) to lend to EU governments to spend on their militaries.
\nIn a joint statement agreed by all 27 member states, the leaders called on their ministers to examine these proposals in detail urgently.
\n\u201cEurope must take up this challenge, this arms race. And it must win it,\u201d Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a special defence summit in Brussels.
\n\u201cEurope as a whole is truly capable of winning any military, financial, economic confrontation with Russia\u2013we are simply stronger,\u201d Tusk said.
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron, who on Wednesday had told French voters that Russia was a threat to France and Europe, said all this was just a first step.
\n\u201cWhatever happens in Ukraine, we need to build autonomous defence capacities in Europe,\u201d he said after the EU summit.
\nSupporting Ukraine
\nThe EU leaders also voiced support for Ukraine, but that statement was agreed without Hungary\u2019s nationalist leader Viktor Orban, a Trump ally, who is also cultivating ties with Moscow.
\nIn their statement, the 26 other EU leaders stressed that there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine, and vowed to continue to give it aid, according to a recent draft.
\n\u201cWe are here to defend Ukraine,\u201d Costa said as he and European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen, both smiling broadly, warmly welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the summit, in sharp contrast with the clash between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.
\nBut decades of reliance on US protection, divergences on funding and on how France\u2019s 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.
\nWashington 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 held out hope, in public at least, that Washington could be coaxed back into the fold.
\n\u201cWe must ensure, with cool and wise heads, that US support is also guaranteed in the coming months and years, because Ukraine is also dependent on their support for its defence,\u201d Germany\u2019s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
\nMacron said that leaders backed Zelensky\u2019s call for them to support the idea of a truce between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the air and at sea. Zelensky told EU leaders such a truce would be a chance to test Moscow\u2019s will to end its three-year invasion.
\nNuclear deterrence?
\nIn a sign of the gravity of the moment, Macron has said that France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners.
\nThis was met with cautiously positive reactions. Some, like Lithuania\u2019s President Gitanas Nauseda, said such a \u201cnuclear umbrella would serve as really very serious deterrence toward Russia.\u201d Poland said the idea was worth discussing while some, like the Czechs, stressed the need to keep the US involved.
\nTrump has said Europe must take more responsibility for its security. On Thursday he cast doubt on his willingness to defend Washington\u2019s Nato allies, saying that he would not do so if they are not paying enough for their own defence.
\nHis decision to shift from staunch US support for Ukraine to a more conciliatory stance towards Moscow has deeply alarmed Europeans who see Russia as the biggest threat.
\nUnderlining the level of concern, the parties aiming to form Germany\u2019s next government on Tuesday agreed to lift constitutional limits on borrowing to fund defence spending.
\nElsewhere in Europe, Norway will more than double its financial pledge to Ukraine this year while also hiking its own defence spending, the prime minister said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
European Union\u2019s defence summit in Brussels take place amid fears that Russia may attack an EU country next BRUSSELS European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump\u2019s reversal of US policies. The European Union\u2019s defence summit in Brussels took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-465828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n