The European Council underlined, on Thursday 21 March, the European Union’s determination to continue to provide to Ukraine and its people all the necessary political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support for “as long as it takes and as intensely as needed”.
In his speech to European leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the support, but added that the existing air defence systems were not sufficient to protect the whole of Ukrainian territory from Russian “terrorism”.
The Ukrainian President also insisted on ammunition, which he described as a “vital issue”. While he welcomed the creation of the ‘Ukraine Assistance Fund’ and the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition from third countries, Mr Zelensky stressed that “unfortunately, the use of artillery at the frontline by our soldiers is humiliating for Europe in the sense that Europe can provide more”. “And it is crucial to prove it now”, he insisted.
These criticisms seem to have been heard by European leaders. In their conclusions, they promised that at this critical moment, “the European Union and Member States will speed up and intensify the delivery of all the necessary military assistance. Ukraine is in urgent need of air defence systems, munitions and missiles”, say the heads of state or government, who welcome the latest European decisions and initiatives, in particular the Czech initiative “which will enable the EU’s commitment to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells to be fulfilled quickly”.
The European Council also invited the EU Council to make progress on the proposal from the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, presented to the Member States the previous day (see EUROPE 13375/8), on the use of windfall profits generated by Russian assets frozen in the EU. These profits could be used to finance military equipment for Ukraine and develop its defence industry. “The first necessity is ammunition. I’d love to invest in reconstruction, but there’s no point if we risk losing the country”, said Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
“We are determined to act very quickly so that we can put this money aside to support Ukraine, including with military equipment. This shows that the 27 leaders around the table understand the seriousness of the situation and are determined to provide more support to Ukraine”, explained the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the end of the summit.
According to the President of the European Commission, Ms von der Leyen, if the Member States reach a rapid agreement, €1 billion could be put into the pot as early as July.
Finding new funding for defence
The European leaders also discussed the strengthening of European defence, in particular its financing. “How can we ensure that, in addition to enhanced European cooperation on military capabilities, we give the signal to the private sector, to our businesses, to the industrial base, including SMEs, that we are mobilising funding?”, questioned Mr. Michel.
In its conclusions, the European Council invited the EU Council and the Commission to explore “all options” for mobilising funding and to report back “by June”. The European Council places particular emphasis on the European Investment Bank, inviting it to adapt its lending policy to the defence industry and its current definition of dual-use goods, while preserving its financing capacity.
For Mr Michel and Ms von der Leyen, the defence eurobonds proposed by the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, were the subject of a “useful” debate, according to Mr Michel, and a “constructive” one, according to Ms von der Leyen, who pointed out that this was only the beginning of the discussions. The Dutch and Swedish prime ministers have already voiced their opposition to the idea.
To see the conclusions of the European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/bgv (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editorial staff)