EU LEADERS have backed new defence spending plans after the US signalled that Europe would have to fend for itself in the future.
Leaders from across the continent held emergency talks in Brussels on Thursday to explore new ways to beef up their own security and ensure Ukraine’s future.
This comes amid Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said talks between Ukraine and the US on ending the war will take place in Saudi Arabia next week.
The 27 EU leaders signed off on a move to loosen budget restrictions so that willing EU countries can increase their military spending.
They also urged the European Commission to explore new ways “to facilitate significant defence spending at national level in all member states”, a statement said.
The EU’s executive branch estimates that around 650 billion euros (£545.5 bn) could be freed up in this way.
The leaders also took note of a commission offer of a loan package worth 150bn euros to buy new military equipment and invited EU headquarters staff “to examine this proposal as a matter of urgency”.
This comes as the UK treasury announced the first third of its £2.26bn loan to Ukraine has been sent. £752m has been sent for the country to purchase military equipment.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump and considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe, refused to endorse any part of the summit statement in favour of Ukraine.
But all 26 other EU leaders approved the bloc’s stance that there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine and that the Europeans must be involved in any talks involving their security. The Europeans have so far been sidelined in the US-led negotiations with Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said that three years of war in Ukraine and new attitudes in Washington “pose entirely new challenges for us, and Europe must take up this challenge … and it must win”.
“We will arm ourselves faster, smarter, and more efficiently than Russia,” Tusk said.
The plan to loosen budget rules originated with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who oversees the EU’s executive arm.
Zelenskyy welcomed the plan and expressed hopes that some of it could be used to bolster Ukraine’s own defence industry, which can produce weapons cheaper than elsewhere in Europe and closer to the battlefields where they are needed.
“We are very thankful that we are not alone, and these are not just words. We feel it. It’s very important,” Zelenskyy said.
