European leaders emphasized on Thursday (6) their support for Ukraine, stating plans to increase defense spending in response to the shifts in U.S. policies under President Donald Trump. “Europe must confront this challenge, this arms race, and we must win it,” declared Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, upon arriving at the summit in Brussels. “Europe as a whole is indeed capable of prevailing in any military, financial, and economic confrontation with Russia – we are simply stronger,” Tusk added.
Many European Union (EU) leaders praised the European Commission’s recent proposals, which offer fiscal flexibility for defense spending and the possibility for the EU governments to jointly borrow up to 150 billion euros for their Armed Forces. “We are here to defend Ukraine,” stated the meeting’s president, António Costa, while warmly welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
However, decades of reliance on U.S. protection, disagreements over funding, and debates about the use of France’s nuclear deterrent for Europe’s defense revealed the challenges the EU faces in filling the void left by Washington after halting military aid to Ukraine. According to NATO, Washington provided over 40% of last year’s military aid to Ukraine, a gap Europe cannot easily fill. Some leaders still hold out hope, at least publicly, that the U.S. might be persuaded to return to the fold. “We must ensure, with cool and sensible heads, that U.S. support is also secured for the coming months and years, as Ukraine also relies on their aid for its defense,” said Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who is stepping down.
Besides EU challenges, Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor Orban, an ally of Trump, might veto a unanimous declaration of support for Kyiv, although he made it clear he would back measures to bolster Europe’s own defense spending.
The Brussels summit is set against a backdrop of dramatic defense policy decisions, driven by the fear that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, might target an EU country next without the U.S.’s help. “I want to believe the United States will stand by us, but we have to be prepared if that’s not the case,” said France’s President Emmanuel Macron in a speech to the French nation on the eve of the summit.
Macron stressed that Russia has become a threat to all of Europe, drawing sharp criticism from Moscow. Signaling the seriousness of the situation, Macron expressed France’s openness to discuss extending its nuclear protection to European partners. This met with mixed reactions. Some, like Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda, stated that this “nuclear umbrella would serve as a very serious deterrent against Russia.” Poland said it’s worth discussing, while others like Germany emphasized the need to keep the U.S. engaged.
Trump indicated that Europe should take more responsibility for its security, asserting that the U.S. would not protect a NATO ally that doesn’t spend adequately on defense. His shift from steadfast U.S. support for Ukraine to a more conciliatory approach to Moscow has deeply alarmed Europeans who view Russia as the chief threat. Highlighting the level of concern, Germany’s prospective new government parties agreed on Tuesday (4) to suspend constitutional borrowing limits to finance defense spending.
