High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas greets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a European Union summit in Brussels, Belgium March 20, 2025. [Photo/Agencies]
Leaders of the European Union's 27 member states, who met in Brussels on Thursday, failed to agree on a new wave of military support for Ukraine pushed by the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Kallas, whose official title is EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, had hoped to mobilize up to 40 billion euros ($43 billion) in military aid to strengthen Ukraine's position on the battlefield and gain leverage at the negotiation table with Russia.
She also pushed for an immediate support of 5 billion euros to purchase 2 million ammunition rounds for Ukraine.
"The realistic plan would be the 5 billion euros for the ammunition and that's what we're working on right now," she told reporters before the summit.
"This ammunition is available in the market and could be delivered in 2025."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at the summit via video link from Norway, where he was visiting.
"We need funds for artillery shells and would really appreciate Europe's support with at least 5 billion euros as soon as possible," he said.
Big EU economies such as France and Italy opposed Kallas' idea that part of the military contributions should be made according to each member state's Gross National Income as the chief indicator.
Some unidentified EU diplomats complained to the media that Kallas had failed to consult key member states beforehand to win their support.
European Council President Antonio Costa did not comment on the failure of Kallas' proposal, but said: "We continue to study other ways to increase our support for Ukraine."
Costa expressed that the EU "will continue in an unwavering way" until the end of the conflict. And after the conflict, it "will continue to support Ukraine with peace guarantees".
"And the most important, in the integration of Ukraine into the European Union," he said.
The summit's statement on the part of Ukraine was endorsed by only 26 member states and not Hungary.
"The European Council recalls the initiatives to enhance EU military support to Ukraine, notably that of the High Representative to coordinate increased support by member states and other participating states, (on) a voluntary basis," the text reads.
'Disastrous' move
"Ukraine's accession to the EU in the current situation would be disastrous, yet Brussels is trying to speed up the process. It's the right of member states to decide which countries they want to admit into the community," said Balazs Orban, political director for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The two are not related.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to host a meeting of the "coalition of the willing" with Zelensky next Thursday.
"We will finalize our work on short-term support for the Ukrainian army, on defending a sustainable and durable Ukrainian army model to prevent Russian invasions, and then on the security guarantees that European armies can provide," Macron said.
The summit had a heavy focus on mobilizing member states to boost defense spending, but Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and some others did not like the term "ReArm". European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed in her "ReArm Europe" plan to shore up to 800 billion euros on defense following US President Donald Trump's attack on the trans-Atlantic security alliance.
"It is important to take into account that the challenges that we face in the southern neighborhood are a bit different to the ones that the eastern flank faces," Sanchez said, clearly referring to the migration crisis and the conflict in the Middle East. The Dutch Parliament opposed the "ReArm Europe" plan in a narrow vote 10 days ago, calling on the Netherlands to back out of the plan.
chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn
