(CN) — The European Union’s big plans to rearm, defend Ukraine to the hilt and turn the 27-nation bloc into a military superpower were in trouble Friday.
A Brussels summit of European leaders ended late Thursday night with no new funding for Ukraine and clear divisions between nations over the bloc’s need and capability of carrying out a huge rearmament of up to 800 billion euros ($868 billion) by 2030. The plan calls for raising debt levels across the EU so governments can buy warplanes, tanks, drones, missiles and other weapons.
Going into the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s chief executive, presented a dire warning about the need to prepare Europe’s armies for the “real prospect of full-scale war” in the coming years. On Wednesday, her office presented a white paper entitled “ReArm Europe” outlining why the bloc needs to quickly build up its militaries.
But some nations, chief among them Spain and Italy, expressed deep reservations about the rearmament plan and the bellicose rhetoric coming out of Brussels.
“I don’t like the term ‘rearmament’ at all,” center-left Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said upon arrival in Brussels. “I don’t agree with that term. We have to speak differently, address citizens differently, when we talk about increasing European security and defense capabilities.”
Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also questioned a rearmament plan based around the fear that Russia presents a growing military threat to Europe. There is skepticism in many parts of Europe, especially in nations not bordering Russia, about Moscow’s capacity or desire to attack EU and NATO nations.
Also, there are doubts about the bloc’s ability to ramp up military spending. Not least among the hurdles, there are fears the EU’s entry into an arms race with the other global powers will put an unbearable strain on over-stressed national budgets and force painful cuts to public services.
At the summit, EU leaders also were asked to approve 40 billion euros ($43.4 billion) in arms for Ukraine. But they balked at that and also at a subsequent proposal to spend 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) on ammunition for Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been an impediment to the EU’s efforts to back Ukraine and he blocked support again at this summit. Orbán has spoken in favor of negotiations with Russia since the outset of the war in Ukraine.
In another blow to Kyiv, the EU leaders chose to leave untouched more than $200 billion in frozen Russian assets sitting in European banks. Previously, EU leaders agreed to appropriate profits from interest accrued from the frozen assets, but they are worried about legal and financial repercussions of confiscating the Russian assets. Also, some argue the assets may be used as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with Russia.
Panic and anger has gripped the EU since Donald Trump returned to the White House on Jan. 20 and upended the transatlantic alliance by calling for a reset with Russia and saying the Ukraine war must end, even if that means giving in to Russian demands. Also, Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Greenland have exacerbated the U.S.-EU rift.
Fearing an American withdrawal from NATO, many EU leaders say the bloc must scramble to find the will and money to back Ukraine and make the EU into a military superpower capable of standing up to Russia and China at a moment when the world order is falling apart.
The ReArm Europe white paper portrayed a world in chaos that threatens the EU’s “security, peace, democracy and prosperity.”
“The international order is undergoing changes of a magnitude not seen since 1945,” experts wrote in the paper. “These changes are particularly profound in Europe because of its central role in the major geopolitical challenges of the last century.”
The paper said the old order “is not coming back” and a “new international order will be formed in the second half of this decade and beyond.”
“Unless we shape this order — in both our region and beyond — we will be passive recipients of the outcome of this period of interstate competition with all the negative consequences that could flow from this, including the real prospect of full-scale war,” the EU warned in the strategy document. “History will not forgive us for inaction.”
Only by rearming, they wrote in the paper, can the EU survive the turbulence.
“If we respond to this moment with determination, collective action and a clear strategy, we will strengthen our place in the world,” they said. “If we continue on the same path, however, we will end up diminished, divided and vulnerable.”
They said in the document, “the rest of the world is engaged in a race towards military modernization and technological and economic advantage.”
“This race is intensifying, and Europe has yet to carve out a fully coherent response to meet the gravity of the current moment,” they wrote.
Ensuring Ukraine does not capitulate to Russia is central to Brussels’ thinking.
“The future of Ukraine is fundamental to the future of Europe as a whole,” the EU said in the paper. It added that the war has led to a mass refugee crisis for the EU and brought huge economic costs for the bloc.
“The outcome of that war will be a determinative factor in our collective future for decades ahead,” the EU said.
Brussels portrayed Russia as the biggest threat.
“Russia poses a major strategic threat on the battlefield,” the EU said. “It has forced Europe and our partners to confront the reality of major mechanized high-intensity war on the European continent on a scale not seen since 1945.”
It potrayed Russia as a war economy “focused overwhelmingly on the prosecution of its war aims.” In the coming years, it said Russia, with the support of its allies North Korea, Iran and Belarus, will only get stronger.
It noted that about 40% of Russia’s federal budget and up to 9% of its gross domestic product was spent in defense last year. It added that Russia’s military budget is expected to surpass EU defense spending this year when calculated in purchasing power parity terms.
“Russia has made it clear that according to their understanding they remain at war with the West,” the EU said. “If Russia is allowed to achieve its goals in Ukraine, its territorial ambition will extend beyond.”
“Russia will remain a fundamental threat to Europe’s security for the foreseeable future,” the EU wrote, and continue to fuel “tensions and instability in Europe’s neighborhood.” It cited the Balkans, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Africa as places where Russia is acting in ways contrary to EU interests.
The paper said the EU has the resources to become a military superpower.
“The only way we can ensure peace is to have the readiness to deter those who would do us harm,” the EU said. “We have many strong foundations such as our potential to unleash vast resources and latent technological and industrial power.”
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.