The EU increases pressure on Putin after the failed meeting with Trump.

BrusselsThe European Union remains firm in its support for Ukraine despite Donald Trump's blind shotsThe European club already issued a joint statement with Kiev on Tuesday. in which he closed the door to giving away the entire Donbas region to Vladimir Putin before sitting down at the negotiating table and reminded the United States—cautiously, so as not to anger the White House tenant—that the Kremlin is giving no indication of wanting to end the war and sign a ceasefire or a peace agreement. And, after the meeting had failed between the president of the United States and the president of Russia In Budapest, the European bloc intends to use the occasion to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on the Kremlin at the summit of European leaders this Thursday in Brussels.

Diplomatic sources advance that before the meeting of heads of state and government, which is expected to be attended by Volodymyr Zelensky, they have already agreed on the nineteenth package of sanctions against Russia and progress will be made on the initiative to use frozen Russian funds in European Union territory to rebuild and rearm Ukraine. "The EU is determined to maintain and increase its pressure on Russia to halt the brutal war of aggression," state the conclusions, which are expected to be approved by the member states and to which the ARA has had access.

According to the same document, the nineteenth package of sanctions aims to end "the import of fossil fuels." At this point, the only country that opposed it was one of those that, along with Viktor Orbán's Hungary, is most pro-Russian and most dependent on Putin's regime for energy: Slovakia. Finally, diplomatic sources have announced that Bratislava has lifted its veto and will allow the new restrictions against Moscow to go ahead.

Beyond stopping the purchase of Russian energy products, the European Union also wants to increase and reinforce sanctions and controls against Russia's "ghost fleet," the ships of Russian origin that secretly transport oil and manage to evade sanctions from the European bloc itself.

Diplomatic sources from the European Council and several member states are less optimistic about the consensus around using the Frozen Russian funds held in the EU to re-arm UkraineSome partners have legal doubts about the measure, especially Belgium. This money is managed by a Brussels investment fund, and the Belgian government fears that the initiative violates international law and will have to pay the price.

However, the same sources indicate that, even if there is no clear agreement on this matter, the Member States will ask the European Commission to present a legislative proposal that provides for the use of this Russian money and that includes legal guarantees that responsibility will not only lie with Belgium, but with the EU as a whole. In fact, at the last summit of EU heads of state and government in Copenhagen, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, already promised that she would officially propose this measure. The intention is for it to be approved before the end of the year, according to the same diplomatic sources.

France comes to the defense of the European weapons industry

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, a debate has recurred in the European Union: where to buy weapons? This time, with the money from Russian funds that the European bloc intends to send to Kiev, France has once again come to the defense of European industry, and diplomatic sources indicate that Paris advocates requiring that the weapons Ukraine buys with this aid be European and not, for example, American.

On the other hand, other member states, historically more Atlanticist—especially in military matters—and less protectionist, such as Germany and the Netherlands, believe that this is not the most important issue right now. "The priority is to help Ukraine so it can defend itself against Russia," emphasize diplomatic sources opposed to the requirement that Emmanuel Macron has put on the table. Another debate that will divide the Franco-German axis and will mark this Thursday's European summit.