EU to hold summit on Ukraine and European security
Leaders of the European Union will meet tomorrow in Brussels to discuss support for Ukraine, as well as approaches to build Europe’s defense capacities more broadly. European leaders are likely to either endorse increased defense spending by individual member countries, or expanding countries’ ability to borrow more.
On Sunday, European Council President Antonio Costa announced the emergency summit, stating that Europe was living through a “defining moment for Ukraine and European security.” The summit will follow the announcement that the US will pause all aid for Ukraine.
The majority of effort at the summit is likely to be devoted to finding solutions to increase defense spending by European countries. The EU’s tight fiscal controls would make joint financing difficult under current guidelines.
The EC will likely discuss two proposals in particular. The first proposal would waive budget limits on defense spending, allowing individual countries to spend more than EU limits would otherwise allow. The proposal would increase deficit spending and is therefore likely to be unpopular with EU countries which are already suffering from high deficits such as France or Germany. The second major option would involve expanding borrowing options for the EU for the purposes of defense spending. However, EU rules require that any changes to lending restrictions be approved unanimously by the EC: it is therefore likely that Hungary will refuse to endorse this measure, as it has stymied past aid packages for Ukraine. Therefore, the likeliest scenario will be that the EU waives budget limits for defense spending.