EU supports Zelensky after Trump ambush: "We are and will be by your side"

BrusselsDonald Trump is increasingly aligning himself with Vladimir Putin and is cornering Volodymyr Zelensky. But Ukraine is not alone, it still has the unequivocal support of the European Union, or so it is told. They want to transfer the European leaders this Thursday at the summit taking place this Thursday in Brussels. "We are and will be at your side," stressed the President of the European Council, António Costa. And, at the same time, the Ukrainian president has taken up the gauntlet. "Thank you for the support you have given us since the beginning of the war, and during these years and this last week. [...] We Ukrainians know and feel that we are not alone," thanked Zelensky.

In fact, the main objective of the summit is to stage and make clear that the EU continues to support Ukraine, despite the abandonment of the White House. In this sense, the heads of state and government will endorse the plan presented by the European Commission last Tuesday to rearm Europe and continue supporting Ukrainian troops. As Ursula von der Leyen insisted this Thursday, some of the measures she has put on the table are "extraordinary" because the continent is in an "extraordinary" moment.

The most notable measure included in Von der Leyen's plan is the relaxation of fiscal rules. In other words, military spending will not be included when calculating the deficit of the Member States, which currently must be a maximum of 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP). Specifically, Brussels estimates that governments will have room to increase the money they spend by 1.5 percentage points more than their respective GDP, which in total amounts to some 600 billion euros. In addition, Brussels proposes that the EU guarantee loans to the Member States worth 150 billion euros to boost investments in defence. In total, the EU would mobilize some 800 billion euros over four years.

However, diplomatic sources assure that this plan has the majority support of the member states and that, in fact, it is only the basis on which the leaders will negotiate. Therefore, they do not rule out further measures to increase military financing and that, for example, new Eurobonds may end up being approved, as requested by countries such as France or Spain. In fact, more and more states are supporting the creation of common debt similar to that agreed by Covid and some of the partners who have always been dogmatic about austerity also see it in a positive light, as is the case of Denmark or Finland.

Even the future German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, announced constitutional reforms yesterday to be able to overcome Germany's strict fiscal limits and be able to increase military spending. In this sense, the still German puppeteer, Olaf Scholz, has called for greater flexibility and an extension in time of the fiscal rules that Von der Leyen has proposed. This position contrasts with the one it had during the economic crisis of 2008, when it refused to give greater fiscal space to the countries that suffered the most from the crisis, such as Spain, even though the euro was in danger.

However, for the moment there is no broad approval of sending European peacekeeping troops to Ukrainian territory as a security guarantee for Putin to respect a potential ceasefire. At this point, although they do not rule it out, several countries, such as Germany or Spain, still see it as premature to talk about it when no type of agreement or ceasefire has yet been reached. Emmanuel Macron, who has been its main promoter, and the United Kingdom are openly in favour. Whatever the case, it is one of Moscow's main red lines and the Russian president warned on Thursday that the Kremlin does not intend to accept it. "There are people who have forgotten how Napoleon's campaign in Russia ended," Putin said.

Nevertheless, Zelensky knows that he needs the United States on his side and wants to avoid Trump and Putin putting the squeeze on him at all costs. That is why, beyond his thanks to the European leaders, he extended his hand in Washington after the US president was booed, and assured that they will have a "useful meeting" next week with representatives of the US.

The French nuclear shield

The US military has been Europe's protective umbrella since the end of World War II, but now Trump is threatening to end it and European allies are being pushed to regain military autonomy. Among others, EU countries are already getting smart about finding a substitute for the nuclear security provided by the United States and everyone has looked to France, which is the main military power in the European bloc and has atomic weapons. And Macron, who has always chosen to strengthen European military strength and stop depending on the White House, has done well.

The French president on Wednesday showed himself willing to protect the entire community territory with his nuclear weapons and urged the rest of the European partners to open a "strategic debate" on deterrent capacity. Beyond France, in Europe the only other country that has this type of weapons is the United Kingdom. However, they are very far from reaching the levels of nuclear warheads that the United States or Russia have.