European Union leaders shaken by the prospect of United States disengagement agreed to boost the bloc’s defences at a crisis summit, as Washington said talks with Ukraine were back on track to secure a ceasefire with Moscow.
Rallying around Ukraine after Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House blow-up with President Donald Trump, European countries green-light a plan to re-arm Europe against the perceived threat from Russia.
Antonio Costa, who heads the Council of the EU’s 27 states, told reporters after the talks that the Union would make a decisive move towards a strong and more sovereign Europe of defence.
He further revealed that leaders endorsed the European Commission’s aim to mobilise about 800 billion euros for defence spending, committing to examine as a matter of urgency its proposal to provide members with EU-backed loans of up to 150 billion euros.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has likewise called for a defence spending surge and suggested extending France’s nuclear deterrent to European partners.
European governments are under pressure to step up defence as Trump questions whether the United States, the guarantor of Europe’s security since World War II, should continue its central role in NATO.
