European Union leadership announced a plan Tuesday to shore up the continent’s collective defense by significantly boosting military spending, hours after President Trump said the U.S. was suspending all its military aid to Ukraine.
“We are in an era of rearmament,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told journalists on Tuesday while announcing the plan — called “ReArm Europe” — which she said would allow European countries to access the equivalent of $840 billion to spend on defense in the coming years.
One way it would do this is by allowing EU countries to spend more on defense without triggering EU mechanisms against budget deficits, Von der Leyen said. Another way would be through EU loans worth around $158 billion for EU member states.
“It will help Member States to pool demand and to buy together,” Von der Leyen said. “With this equipment, Member States can massively step up their support to Ukraine… This approach of joint procurement will also reduce costs, reduce fragmentation, increase interoperability and strengthen our defense industrial base.”
Yves Herman / REUTERS
Von der Leyen also proposed using the EU bloc’s collective budget to help increase defense spending, and to mobilize private capital.
The announcement comes 48 hours before a scheduled summit of EU leaders, where Von der Leyen’s proposals will be discussed.
“Europe is ready to assume its responsibilities,” Von der Leyen said. “We will continue working closely with our partners in NATO. This is a moment for Europe. And we are ready to step up.”
NATO not consulted on Trump’s move, Poland says
European leaders woke up to the news that Mr. Trump had suspended all military aid to Ukraine without any prior notice, Poland’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski said Tuesday.
Wronski told journalists Mr. Trump had made the decision, “without informing, nor consulting” his NATO allies, adding: “It is a very important decision and the situation is very serious.”
Ireland’s leader Michael Martin called the move by Mr. Trump a “serious setback” to achieving peace, stressing that Ukrainians, “have shown extraordinary resilience, extraordinary courage in terms of meeting an illegal invasion.”
“Europe is very conscious, also, of the fact that there are many other states across Europe who fear Russian aggression and Russian ambition, and those countries see this as an existential threat to their sovereignty,” Martin said. “The European Union is very, very conscious of that, and that is what is motivating the European Union in its continued strong support of Ukraine, because this is a broader European issue.”
The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, said Europe “cannot allow Russia’s aggressive policy, which threatens us all, to succeed. The era of relying on others to address fundamental international challenges on our behalf is over. Now is the time for Europe to move decisively from words to action.”
Will Trump’s move “encourage Putin to ask for more”?
Mr. Trump’s decision to suspend U.S. military aid to Ukraine “will encourage Putin to ask for more — including Ukrainian demilitarization and neutrality,” Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute military think tank, predicted Tuesday.
Chalmers said the “nightmare scenario” would be for the United States and Russia to announce a peace deal, “and then tell Ukraine and Europe to ‘take it or leave it.'”
Recent estimates show only about 20% of military hardware supplied to Ukraine is from the United States, with 25% provided by Europe and the rest of the world and 55% produced in Ukraine, Chalmers said. But the 20% provided by the U.S., he said, is “the most lethal and important.”
“What will count most of all is how far the U.K. and Europe are prepared to help Ukraine in defiance of the U.S.,” Chalmers said. “Ukraine will not collapse [without U.S. military aid] – they already experienced an aid cutoff last year, but the effect will be cumulative.”
