Macron warns: "The future of Europe must not be decided in Washington or Moscow"

Paris/BrusselsHours before the start of the extraordinary European summit that will serve to debate the European plan to rearm itself in the face of the new geopolitical situation, the President of France warned on Wednesday night that the world has entered "a new era" and Europe must react: "in the face of this world full of dangers, continuing to be spectators would be a good person.

In a serious tone, the President of the Republic - who has taken the European leadership in the midst of the crisis caused by Trump - has called on the EU countries to massively reinforce the community defense in the face of the distancing from Europe that has been marked by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the rapprochement with Russia. The majority of countries on the old continent watch helplessly as the United States negotiates behind the backs of Brussels and Kiev a peace agreement for Ukraine and are not willing to sit back and do nothing. "The future of Europe must not be decided in Washington or Moscow," Macron warned.

European summit

European leaders are clear that, in the face of Trump's return, they must increase their military autonomy and stop depending on the Pentagon, both for the security of Ukraine and for Europe as a whole. Thus, with this objective in mind, the heads of state and government of the European Union are meeting again urgently this Thursday in Brussels, where they will try to mark the first steps on the path to rearmament of the continent. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is also expected to attend in person.

On the table is the plan presented this Tuesday by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The most notable measure it includes is the relaxation of fiscal rules. That is, military spending does not count 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 spent by 1.5 percentage points more than their respective GDPs, which in total add up to about 600 billion euros. In addition, Von der Leyen proposes that the EU guarantee loans to member states for a total value of 150 billion euros to boost investments in defense.

However, diplomatic sources assure that this plan has the majority support of member states and that, in fact, it is only the basis on which the leaders will negotiate. Therefore, they do not completely rule out further measures to increase military financing, such as the creation of new Eurobonds. However, the sending of European peacekeeping troops to Ukrainian territory as a security guarantee for Putin to comply with a potential ceasefire does not have broad approval.