Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been working to build this coalition of countries supporting Ukraine since last month, when US President Donald Trump began direct talks with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in an attempt to end the three-year war. “We have worked a lot with the British to set the conditions for a ceasefire, so I think this will be the opportunity to discuss and clarify this,” the French president said.
At the European Council in Brussels, leaders confirmed support for the Commission’s plan to mobilise up to €800 billion for defence, but there are differences on some key points. For Emmanuel Macron, the European Council was a success. “We now have a strategy to fully rearm Europe, to re-equip ourselves and to fully regain our independence in the next five years,” the French president wrote in a message published on X (formerly Twitter) at the end of the meeting in Brussels.
Yesterday, the European Council lasted until late at night, enabling the leaders of the 27 member states to conclude discussions on various topics in one day, and no longer necessarily in two, confirming the new style of President Antonio Costa, which aims to shorten the duration of these meetings and make them more operational.
REARMARITIME PLAN
The heads of state and government discussed the ReArm Europe plan, or more precisely Readiness 2030, as it has now been called, presented by the European Commission, which aims to mobilise up to 800 billion euros for arms purchases and calls on member states to share resources for joint military projects and to buy more weapons produced in Europe. The name change is a concession to countries such as Giorgia Meloni’s Italy, which has long demanded a revision of the name, which she considered too belligerent. In this battle, the Italian prime minister found an unusual ally in Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“I don’t like the term ‘rearmament’. I think the EU is a political project of ‘soft power’. Today we also have the task of a ‘hard power’. But it is essential to highlight our strengths in the field of ‘soft power’. This is my principled opposition to the term ‘rearmament'”, the socialist had declared on the sidelines of the meeting. But, beyond the names, discussions on the content continue. “I believe that Europe has never moved so fast as in recent weeks”, stressed Macron, according to whom “Europe was a community built to avoid war, then a single market. It had never built the instruments to become a real power. Now it is doing it. We are doing it in real time and with speed”.
DIFFERENT ATTITUDES
Some leaders, such as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, urged Brussels to go further in financing defense spending and to consider the possibility of providing subsidies to member states, not just loans. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed a preference for “genuinely common European instruments that do not directly burden the debt of states.” Others, such as Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, spoke out against common bonds, so-called Eurobonds. And this is the line that seems to have dominated the meeting, as any reference to “exploring further measures” for defense financing, which was included in the conclusions of the European Council of March 6, disappeared from the official statements.
COALITION OF THE WILLING
Macron also announced a new Summit of the Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine, scheduled for next Thursday in Paris, at which “we will finalize our work to support the Ukrainian army and build a sustainable military model to prevent Russian invasions,” he explained. The meeting, which is also expected to be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, follows “the meeting of the chiefs of general staff of the armies last week in Paris and that of the deputy chiefs of operations” held yesterday (Thursday, March 20) in London.
Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been working to build this coalition of countries supporting Ukraine since last month, when US President Donald Trump began direct talks with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in an attempt to end the three-year war. “We have worked a lot with the British to define the conditions for a ceasefire, so I think this will be the opportunity to discuss and clarify this,” the French president said. “The next objective is to specify the different levels of support for Ukraine after peace, support for the Ukrainian army and its possible deployment,” he added.
