BRUSSELS (AN) — The European Union underwent an existential shift as leaders gathered for a historic defense summit, acknowledging the bloc built on economic cooperation and peace must put itself on a war footing.
The summit ended on Thursday night with 26 E.U. leaders – minus Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who vetoed an effort to replace U.S. military aid – pledging support in a joint statement on Ukraine.
"Achieving ‘peace through strength’ requires Ukraine to be in the strongest possible position, with Ukraine’s own robust military and defense capabilities as an essential component. This applies before, during and after negotiations to end the war. " it says. "The European Union remains committed, in coordination with like-minded partners and allies, to providing enhanced political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people."
They also agreed on a need for further measures toward "stepping up pressure on Russia, including through further sanctions and by strengthening the enforcement of existing measures, in order to weaken its ability to continue waging its war of aggression."
Leaders acknowledged the continent faces a radically altered security landscape and they must work quickly to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's open denigration of European allies and pivot toward Russia, which shattered any illusion Russia's war in Ukraine might be contained.
"Europe faces a clear and present danger," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said as the emergency meeting began. "Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, as we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and push for lasting and just peace."
Fierce debates were held in closed-door sessions in contrast to the polished quotes and sunlit appearances as the summit kicked off within the gleaming glass of the Europa building, seat of the European Council.
"It's about damn time," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told reporters about the 27-nation bloc's urgent scramble to meet the new reality with a stronger self-defense — and find the money to confront it. "We need to make sure that we put our money where our mouth is."
Standing alongside von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the solidarity. "We are very thankful that we are not alone," he said. "It's very important you sent a strong signal to Ukrainian people, to Ukrainian warriors, to civilians, to all our families."
Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 100 drones overnight, striking a hotel in Zelenskyy's central Ukraine hometown of Kryvyi Rih and killing four civilians. “There must be no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life,” he said of the attack.
The price of security
The first and most contentious issue: money. Where from, how much, and with what mechanisms? While Poland and Baltic countries pushed for concrete commitments to raise defense spending, others remained reluctant to open their purse strings amid competing economic pressures.
"All the options are on the table when it comes to finance of the defense, from grants to reallocation of the cohesion funds to also the change of fiscal rules," said Kaja Kallas, E.U. foreign policy chief and former leader of Estonia. "The war is happening in Europe. We know what is at stake here."
Following the U.S. announcement cutting all military aid to Kyiv on Tuesday, von der Leyen unveiled the "ReArm Europe" plan to enable up to €800 billion ($845 billion) in new defense spending across the bloc. The U.S. quickly followed the move by cutting off all intelligence sharing with Ukraine and by calling on the United Kingdom — one of the Five Eyes allies along with Australia, Canada and New Zealand — to do the same.
The ReArm plan — the policy basis of the emergency summit — proposed giving countries more fiscal space to invest in self-defense, Ukraine's defense industry or procurement directly for Ukraine's military. European defense stocks rose to record highs on the news.
"The most important thing now is, to be very frank, to rearm Europe, and I don't think we have a lot of time," warned Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's prime minister. "Spend, spend, spend on defense and deterrence."
Military experts warned that the cutoff of U.S. air defense systems – particularly the Patriot systems that have protected major Ukrainian cities – will embolden Russian aggression and attacks on civilian populations.
Filling America's void
The U.S. withdrawal from the vital role it has played in European security since the end of World War II creates an urgent need for Europe to fill critical gaps in air defense, intelligence, and surveillance capabilities.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates the U.S. accounted for 55% of European defense imports between 2019 and 2023 – now seen as a vulnerability with the loss of the U.S. as a reliable partner.
French President Emmanuel Macron raised the prospect of using France's nuclear arsenal to protect Europe, signaling the gravity with which the continent views Russian threats without U.S. backing. Official discussions about the idea were not part of the emergency meeting's agenda.
Ukraine's former commander-in-chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now ambassador to London, offered a stark assessment of the shifting global order at Chatham House. Setting diplomatic niceties aside, he said Washington and Moscow were "destroying" the world order as part of an "axis of evil."
"We see that the White House makes steps towards the Kremlin, trying to meet them halfway," he said, warning it could fan Russian aggression in Europe. "Washington is trying to delegate the security issues to Europe."
Internal opposition on home turf
As the E.U. ventures beyond economic integration, roads, farm subsidies and bureaucracy into issues of security, the question remains whether its consensus-based decision-making process can meet the urgency of the moment – especially with internal opposition.
Pro-Russian governments in Slovakia and Hungary had appeared likely to block language on Ukraine's defense, and Orbán was particularly combative ahead of the summit, accusing E.U. leaders of deciding "the war in Ukraine must continue."
He insisted that "continuing the war in Ukraine is bad, dangerous, and a mistake," and Ukraine should accept U.S.-Russia peace talks to end the war even without the participation of Ukraine and Europe.
Slovakia's President Robert Fico expressed anger that Ukraine let gas transit from Moscow to Slovakia expire this year. Diplomats sought to win over Slovakia, despite its dependence on Russian oil and Zelenskyy's unwillingness to budge on the pipeline closure to prevent Russians from earning what he called "additional billions on our blood."
At the summit, diplomats got Fico's backing by including language pledging the E.U. would exert more pressure on Ukraine to restart the gas pipelines. "The European Council calls on the Commission, Slovakia and Ukraine to intensify efforts towards finding workable solutions to the gas transit issue," the statement says, "while taking into consideration the concerns raised by Slovakia."
Several top E.U. leaders indicated the bloc will move forward with or without unanimous support. "We are living in historic times and we should be more united than ever," said Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frienden, "and if you do not share this view, the others should go ahead."
European leaders were particularly perplexed by Trump's elevation of Russia to superpower status despite the size of its economy – which is smaller than Italy's and around 10% of the E.U.'s combined economy.
"We shouldn't underestimate our own power when it comes to Europe – the economic power we have," Kallas said. "Everybody wants peace. That is very clear. But the peace has to be the one that is not bringing more suffering to the Ukrainian people, but also (not) to the Europeans."
This story has been updated with additional details.
