EU leaders open emergency summit on defense and Ukraine aid as US
security support wanes
[March 06, 2025]
By RAF CASERT and LORNE COOK
BRUSSELS (AP) — Facing the prospect that the United States might cut
them adrift under President Donald Trump, European Union leaders
launched a day of emergency talks Thursday in a bid to beef up their own
security and ensure that Ukraine will still be properly protected.
Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, and summit
chairman Antonio Costa discussed over breakfast in Brussels ways to
fortify Europe's defenses on a short deadline. Merz pushed plans this
week to loosen the nation’s rules on running up debt to allow for higher
defense spending.
Meanwhile, the 27-nation bloc was waking up to news that French
President Emmanuel Macron would confer with EU leaders about the
possibility of using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the continent
from Russian threats.
It all underscored the sea change that has taken place in the two months
since Trump took office and immediately started questioning the
cornerstones of cooperation between the United States and Europe that
had been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.
“Given these profound shifts in U.S. policy, and the existential threat
of another war on the continent, Europe must manage its essential
defence tasks,” the European Policy Center think tank said in a
commentary.
The bloc will “take decisive steps forward," Macron told the French
nation Wednesday evening. “Member states will be able to increase their
military spending” and “massive joint funding will be provided to buy
and produce some of the most innovative munitions, tanks, weapons and
equipment in Europe,” he said.
Adding to the ebullient message, he said that “Europe’s future does not
have to be decided in Washington or Moscow.”
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is taking part in the summit.
Limited room to increase spending
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a plan
to loosen budget rules so countries that are willing can spend much more
on defense. Her proposal is underpinned by 150 billion euros ($162
billion) worth of loans to buy priority military equipment.
Most of the increased defense spending would have to come from national
budgets at a time when many countries are already overburdened with
debt.
France is struggling to reduce an excessive annual budget deficit of 5%
of GDP, after running up its total debt burden to 112% of GDP with
spending on relief for businesses and consumers during the COVID-19
pandemic and the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine.
Five other countries using the euro currency have debt levels over 100%
of GDP: Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Europe’s largest economy, Germany, has more room to borrow, with a debt
level of 62% of GDP.
[to top of second column]
|
European Council President Antonio Costa, right, greets Friedrich
Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, prior to a meeting
at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6,
2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Pressing security needs
Part of any security plan is also to protect the increasingly
beleaguered position of Ukraine.
A Russian missile killed four people staying at a hotel in
Zelenskyy’s hometown overnight. He said that a humanitarian
organization’s volunteers had moved into the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in
central Ukraine, just before the strike. The volunteers included
Ukrainian, American and British nationals, but it wasn't clear
whether those people were among the 31 injured.
Early this week, Trump ordered a pause to U.S. military supplies to
Ukraine as he sought to press Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to
end the war with Russia, bringing fresh urgency to Thursday's
summit.
Thursday's meeting is unlikely to address Ukraine’s most pressing
needs. It is not aimed at urgently drumming up more arms and
ammunition to fill any supply vacuum created by the U.S. freeze. Nor
will all nations agree to unblock the estimated 183 billion euros
($196 billion) in frozen Russian assets held in a Belgian clearing
house, a pot of ready cash that could be seized.
Still, the Europeans underlined the importance of the moment.
“Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us
have seen in our adult lifetime. Some of our fundamental assumptions
are being undermined to their very core,” von der Leyen warned in a
letter to the leaders ahead of their meeting.
But perhaps the biggest challenge for the EU will be to take a
united stance at a moment when it’s fractured, since much of what
the bloc does requires unanimous support. Hungary is threatening to
veto part of the summit statement on Ukraine.
Even if the challenges are so daunting, Thursday's summit is
unlikely to produce immediate decisions on spending for Ukraine or
its own defenses. Another EU summit where the real contours of
decisions would be much clearer is set for March 20-21.
___
AP journalists Sylvie Corbet, David McHugh in Frankfurt and Barry
Hatton in Lisbon contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
