{"id":304748,"date":"2025-03-08T06:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T06:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=304748"},"modified":"2025-03-10T08:13:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T08:13:01","slug":"watershed-moment-eu-leaders-agree-plan-for-huge-rise-in-defence-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=304748","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Watershed moment\u2019: EU leaders agree plan for huge rise in defence spending"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Rankin \u2013 The Guardian March 6, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n

European leaders holding emergency talks in Brussels have agreed on a massive increase to defence spending, amid a drive to shore up support for Ukraine after Donald Trump halted US military aid<\/a> and intelligence sharing.<\/p>\n

It came as French president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> warned on Thursday night that \u201cthe only imperial power that I see today in Europe is Russia\u201d and called Vladimir Putin as \u201can imperialist who seeks to rewrite history\u201d after the Russian president appeared to compare him to Napoleon Bonaparte.<\/p>\n

Macron also hit back at Russian reactions to his description of Moscow as an existential threat to Europe, saying the Kremlin had clearly been piqued by the fact their game had been uncovered. Macron said Russia reacted the way it did to his speech warning that Russian aggression \u201cknows no borders\u201d<\/a> because it was true.<\/p>\n

The European show of unity was marred by Hungary\u2019s prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a>, failing to endorse an EU statement on Ukraine pushing back against Trump\u2019s Russia-friendly negotiating stance.<\/p>\n

The 26 other EU leaders, including Orb\u00e1n\u2019s ally Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister, \u201cfirmly supported\u201d the statement. \u201cThere can be no negotiations on Ukraine<\/a> without Ukraine,\u201d said the statement, a response to Trump\u2019s attempt to sideline Europe and Kyiv.<\/p>\n

The European Council president Ant\u00f3nio Costa, who called the meeting, said: \u201cHungary has a different strategic approach on Ukraine, but that means Hungary is isolated among the 27.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arriving at the summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had originally been scheduled to join by video link, said: \u201cWe are very thankful that we are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen<\/a>, who presented to leaders an \u20ac800bn (\u00a3670bn) plan to increase European defence spending, said it was \u201ca watershed moment for Europe\u201d and also for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen later told reporters that if Trump wanted \u201cpeace through strength\u201d this would only be possible with the EU and its member states \u201cbecause preconditions have to be met\u201d. There were \u201cmany examples that show how important the support of Europe is to come to a positive end\u201d, she said citing EU economic, military aid and support to keep Ukraine\u2019s energy system running.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Denmark\u2019s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, set the tone of the meeting. \u201cSpend, spend, spend on defence and deterrence,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is the most important message, and at the same time, of course, continue to support Ukraine, because we want peace in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy shook leaders\u2019 hands and was embraced by several around the table at the start of the meeting. It was a stark contrast to the hostility from Washington, where US officials doubled down on the decision to cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said it had been done to show the US was serious about ending the war. \u201cThe best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two by four across the nose. You get their attention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Separately, Ukrainian opposition leaders confirmed they had met members of Trump\u2019s entourage<\/a>, but they denied seeking to remove Zelenskyy from power.<\/p>\n

Addressing EU leaders, Zelenskyy said: \u201cThe real question for any negotiations is whether Russia is capable of giving up the war,\u201d as he noted Russia was increasing military spending, growing its army and \u201cmaking no pauses in trying to overcome sanctions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy later said on social media he planned to visit Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. \u201cAfter that, my team will stay in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners,\u201d he wrote. \u201cUkraine is most interested in peace. As we told POTUS, Ukraine is working and will continue to work constructively for a swift and reliable peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU special summit was called last week after Trump embarked on his direct diplomacy with Vladimir Putin, but before the US president\u2019s bullying encounter<\/a> with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and the suspension of US military aid.<\/p>\n

EU leaders largely endorse the plan to \u201crearm Europe\u201d<\/a> outlined by von der Leyen earlier this week, although the \u20ac800bn is highly theoretical, depending on decisions by member states.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope must become more sovereign, more responsible for its own defence and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats,\u201d the final conclusions state. The EU \u201cwill accelerate the mobilisation of the necessary instruments and financing\u201d to boost security and \u201creinforce its overall defence readiness [and] reduce its strategic dependencies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Arriving at the summit, von der Leyen told reporters: \u201cEurope faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, as we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for a lasting and just peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission has said its plan is worth \u20ac800bn<\/a>, including a \u20ac150bn loan scheme secured against unused funds in the EU budget, as well as greater flexibilities in the EU\u2019s fiscal rules that could unlock \u20ac650bn in new spending.<\/p>\n

Member states would still have to agree to the \u20ac150bn loans scheme, while it is unclear if governments would make full use of the \u20ac650bn financial leeway the commission suggests.<\/p>\n

Some of the money could be used by EU countries to finance military aid for Ukraine. \u201cThe best security guarantees are the Ukrainians themselves,\u201d Costa said, although EU diplomats privately acknowledge Europe will not be able to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of US military aid.<\/p>\n

Pressure is growing on all countries to increase national defence budgets, especially the seven EU Nato members, including Spain and Italy, that are below the 2% target set more than a decade ago. Belgium\u2019s new prime minister, Bart De Wever, said his country was \u201can extremely poor pupil\u201d and \u201cgetting a slap on the wrist that we deserve\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a seismic shift, Germany\u2019s probable next coalition partners, the CDU-CSU and SPD, have agreed to change the country\u2019s \u201cdebt brake\u201d to allow increased spending on defence<\/a>, heralding billions for armaments production. Germany\u2019s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, the fiscal hawk turned defence spending advocate, met von der Leyen and Costa before the summit, although he is not yet at the table.<\/p>\n

The current German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who represents Germany as coalition talks continue, said there appeared to be growing consensus on changing the German constitution to allow greater defence spending<\/a>. The unexpected move from Berlin has left Germany\u2019s frugal-minded allies scrambling to understand the ramifications.<\/p>\n

Scholz gave a cool response to Emmanuel Macron\u2019s proposal to allow European allies to shelter under the French nuclear umbrella, saying Europe should not give up on US involvement. Merz, however, has said he wants to discuss with Paris and London whether British and French nuclear protection could be extended to Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European leaders agree to massive increase in defence spending as French President Macron denounces Putin as \u2018an imperialist who seeks to rewrite history\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=304748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304749,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304748\/revisions\/304749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=304748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=304748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=304748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}