European leaders holding emergency talks in Brussels have agreed on a massive increase to defense spending, amid a drive to shore up support for Ukraine after US President Donald Trump halted US military aid and intelligence sharing.
“We are moving decisively towards a strong and more sovereign Europe of defense,” European Council President Antonio Costa said. “We are putting our money where our mouth is.”
Leaders endorsed the European Commission’s aim to mobilize about 800 billion euros (US$860 billion) for defense spending, and committed to examining “as a matter of urgency” its proposal to provide members with EU-backed loans of up to 150 billion euros.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The defense plan eases fiscal rules to allow states to spend much more — at a time when Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz is embracing radical reforms to fund the country’s rearmament.
French President Emmanuel Macron has likewise called for a defense spending surge and suggested extending France’s nuclear deterrent to European partners.
Declaring that Ukraine had to be in the “strongest possible position” to secure a “just and lasting peace,” a leaders’ statement repeated calls for “robust and credible security guarantees” to deter future Russian aggression.
The text — backed by 26 of 27 states, given the expected opposition of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ardent Trump supporter — said that “there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Costa, who called the meeting, said: “Hungary has a different strategic approach on Ukraine, but that means Hungary is isolated among the 27.”
Arriving at the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “We are very thankful that we are not alone.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who presented to leaders the 800 billion euros plan, said it was “a watershed moment for Europe” and also for Ukraine.
The meeting brought no major new aid announcements, with several EU states saying that Europe currently has enough money committed to meet Kyiv’s needs, despite the US freeze on aid.
However, Norway, a non-EU member, announced that it would more than double its aid for this year to bring the total to US$7.8 billion.
Trump’s outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the three-year war — sidelining its European partners — has thrown Europe into crisis mode.
It has also helped draw the UK closer to the EU, five years after leaving the bloc. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is working with Macron to rebuild bridges between Trump and Zelenskiy and together they have pitched a one-month truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure.”
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