European Council summit starts – snap analysis
Jennifer Rankin
Brussels correspondent
European leaders have begun summit talks in Brussels on defence and the economy that are expected to stretch into the night.
Shortly Volodymyr Zelenskyy will brief EU leaders on his call with Donald Trump.
This won’t be a day for big decisions, but leaders could spar over how to fund EU defence investments and “buy European”. Arriving at the summit Greece’s prime minister Kyriákos Mitsotakis urged fellow leaders to “move in a more ambitious direction” by agreeing on EU grants to member states to buy defence equipment. In the frugal corner, Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof, offered a flat no to any further moves towards common debt that would be used to create those grants: “We are opposing eurobonds,” he told reporters. “It is not new, it is what we always say.”
France can be expected to maintain its position on “buy European”, having secured a victory with proposed €150bn loan fund that completely excludes countries from defence contracts without a defence and security agreement with the bloc. Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo has said that Europe had to build its defence in close cooperation with the US.
As earlier this month, it is likely 26 leaders will pledge support for Ukraine – without Hungary. In the draft summit text, seen by the Guardian, EU leaders will call on Russia “to show real political will to end the war”.
But a plan from the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to send immediate military aid to Ukraine appears to have been downgraded. Rather than the initial idea to send tens of billions to Ukraine, member states are being asked to provide ammunition.
Some member states, notably the Netherlands and some Baltic countries, want to see a €40bn EU pledge of military aid for Ukraine for 2025. But that idea seems to have fizzled out, with France, Italy and others against an EU plan, saying bilateral aid can meet Kyiv’s needs.
The Kallas plan was an attempt to get relative underspenders, France, Italy and Spain, to give more to Ukraine.
Key events
Looking back at some of the doorsteps, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on in Brussels that the European Union should focus on bolstering its technological capabilities to defend itself rather than building more stocks of weapons, Reuters reported.
Referring to the white paper released by the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, which recommends joint military supply purchases, Sanchez said his “principal objection” is around the term “rearming”.
“We have to speak differently, to address our citizens in another way when we speak about the need to improve security and European defence capabilities,” he said.
“The EU is a political project of soft power and also we have hard power duties nowadays. We’re very committed not only to increase our defence expenditure but also to have this angle of security.”
Southern European countries, he said, had different challenges to those faced by eastern flank allies, and needed to focus on strengthening border controls, fighting against terrorism and cyber-attacks.
“These are the things we need to take into account when we speak about these new financial instrument and fiscal rule capabilities that we will have for the coming years,” he said, quoted by Reuters.
European Council summit starts – snap analysis
Jennifer Rankin
Brussels correspondent
European leaders have begun summit talks in Brussels on defence and the economy that are expected to stretch into the night.
Shortly Volodymyr Zelenskyy will brief EU leaders on his call with Donald Trump.
This won’t be a day for big decisions, but leaders could spar over how to fund EU defence investments and “buy European”. Arriving at the summit Greece’s prime minister Kyriákos Mitsotakis urged fellow leaders to “move in a more ambitious direction” by agreeing on EU grants to member states to buy defence equipment. In the frugal corner, Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof, offered a flat no to any further moves towards common debt that would be used to create those grants: “We are opposing eurobonds,” he told reporters. “It is not new, it is what we always say.”
France can be expected to maintain its position on “buy European”, having secured a victory with proposed €150bn loan fund that completely excludes countries from defence contracts without a defence and security agreement with the bloc. Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo has said that Europe had to build its defence in close cooperation with the US.
As earlier this month, it is likely 26 leaders will pledge support for Ukraine – without Hungary. In the draft summit text, seen by the Guardian, EU leaders will call on Russia “to show real political will to end the war”.
But a plan from the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to send immediate military aid to Ukraine appears to have been downgraded. Rather than the initial idea to send tens of billions to Ukraine, member states are being asked to provide ammunition.
Some member states, notably the Netherlands and some Baltic countries, want to see a €40bn EU pledge of military aid for Ukraine for 2025. But that idea seems to have fizzled out, with France, Italy and others against an EU plan, saying bilateral aid can meet Kyiv’s needs.
The Kallas plan was an attempt to get relative underspenders, France, Italy and Spain, to give more to Ukraine.
Irish prime minister Micheál Martin said he was looking forward to hear from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and he welcome the commission’s white paper on defence as a “significant document,” of which Ireland is “supportive.”
“There are a lot of issues around procurement capacities within Europe, and the capacity of the European defence industry to respond to this increased expenditure,” he said.
But he was much more cautions on proposals floated by Kallas proposals for €40bn in immediate aid to Ukraine, saying “it’s early days, there has not been agreement on it,” suggesting it could end up being a “much lower figure.”
Martin also spoke at length about the situation in the Middle East, calling out Israel’s bombing as “what seemed to me to amount to collective punishment of the Palestinian within Gaza,” which he said was “quite shocking.”
“It needs to stop, and Europe needs to stay, stop the killing … that is going on in Gaza at the moment,” he said, calling for a swift move to “phase two of the ceasefire.”
Martin was also asked about the US plans to impose tariffs against the EU, saying “Europe needs to be unified in response,” also across industries, as he pointed out that “EU doesn’t want tariffs, … hasn’t initiated any tariffs, and believes, as Ireland does, that tariffs are bad for business, bad for consumers, and they raise prices.”
Outgoing German chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was “crucial” for Ukraine to remain “an independent, sovereign and democratic nation” that can continue on its path to EU accession and have a strong army even after a peace settlement with Russia.
He said the EU should continue to provide significant support to Ukraine, as he referenced German constitutional reforms allowing the country to ramp up its defence spending.
He said he hoped the German Bundesrat would approve the proposals on Friday, “so we have the flexibility to do everything we need to do as a large state in the heart of Europe,” including further aid for Ukraine.
When asked that it is most likely his last EU summit as the chancellor, he said that “we will do our work until the very end.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she was particularly hoping to hear from Zelenskyy about “his feeling of the call with president Trump,” as she welcomed the “extremely important” US president’s apparent commitment to look into strengthening the Ukrainian air defence.
She added that “the stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table.”
She said that if EU leaders have doubts about making longer-term committments, they should “decide on the short term, the imminent needs that Ukraine has.”
“If you listen to the statements of the leaders, then the support is very much there, and that is why it should be also seen in deeds, in numbers, in actual ammunition that Ukraine needs. So I’m really hopeful that we will push this forward,” she said.
Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the progress made on Ukraine, but was growing frustrated with Russia’s “ifs and buts” on ceasefire, adding it was up to Moscow to “prove it” that it is serious about ending the conflict.
He also pointed to later talks in the UK with army chiefs and planners as an important part of discussions on how Europe can support any future peace agreement.
He also backed a broader push to increasingly turn to European defence companies, making the continent “a little less” dependent on US industry, but stressed that Stockholm would always buy the best equipment available, as he praised his relationship with the US.
We need to help Ukraine become EU member ‘as soon as possible, latest by 2030,’ Finnish PM says after meeting Zelenskyy
Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo said acknowledged that “we can see that the EU has lessons learned from the war in Ukraine,” recognising that “Russia is and will be the permanent threat to the EU and Europe.”
He said the target should to be make “the European pillar of Nato as strong as possible and less dependent on others.”
“It is a very ambitious goal, but we have to start right now,” he stressed,
Orpo also drew on his conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy who was in Helsinki on Wednesday, saying “they really want to be a member of the EU; they want to be one of us, and that is why we have to help them, support them in their path to the membership as soon as possible, latest by 2030.”
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis backed the EU’s white paper on defence, saying he was “happy” with the content as he “has been advocating for quite some time for the need to give more fiscal flexibility to the member states, to spend more on defence.”
“I see that is included in the white paper, and we hope that it will be soon approved by our ministers of finance,” he said.
He added, however, that “I would urge us to be even more ambitious, although I think it’s an it’s an excellent first step,” he said.
Europe ‘stepping up,’ but needs to be ready to defend itself in 3-5 years, Danish PM says
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said on arrival that it was “encouraging … that Europe is stepping up” in response to “great changes” in global order, calling for the bloc to rapidly press ahead with “concrete steps” on defence.
She said that Europe should be able to defend itself “within three to five years,” with the primary and “credible” threat coming from Russia.
In particular, she urged countries “a bit further away” from Russia to listen and follow the lead of what she called “the front states” with “historical experience with Russia, negative in all countries.”
Frederiksen also asserted that “only Ukraine can determine Ukraine’s future,” as she rejected Moscow’s plans to “decide who should be members of the EU, who should be members of Nato,” saying that view “cannot be accepted under any circumstances” and would mean Europe “lost.”
She also pointed out that Putin “could stop the war now,” if he wanted, as it remains the sole aggressor in the conflict.
“There was a conversation between president Trump and president Putin, and what do the Russians do after that? They bomb Ukraine. That is a strange way for Russia to make peace,” she said.
Latvian prime minister Evika Siliņa said on arrival that “Ukraine remains our top priority,” as she wanted to hear more from the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on the executive’s plans for rearming Europe.
She said Latvia was “supporting” the EU’s intention to boost the bloc’s defence preparedness, but said it was “just one, first step.”
She also spoke about the need to “take away bureaucractic burden” away from companies to help member states arm faster to face the growing Russian threat.
Siliņa also commented on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s phone call with Donald Trump, saying that she thought it was “going well, and they have negotiated very well.”
She also called out some European countries for “not doing their homework” on defence spending, as they continue to spend below the Nato 2% target.
Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof is one of the first European leaders to arrive at the European Council summit.
In a (very) extensive Q&A with the Dutch media he was mostly asked about the defence spending and funding issues, as well as whether he trusts Vladimir Putin on any future ceasefire.
He said the Russian president “has shown his intentions” with the war on Ukraine, and stressed the need for “very firm” peace agreement that could be enforced.
He also rejected Russia’s demand that Europe stop offering military aid to Ukraine, saying it was “not an option,” and pointing to on-going talks between Europe, the UK, Canada and Turkey about a broader role they can play in Ukraine.
Asked again about the funding element of the package in English, he said that the Netherlands was supporting EU proposals and remained “constructive”, but continued to stress that “sustainable debt is important,” which is why it keeps opposing eurobonds.
He also hinted at the Dutch interest in “direct investment in the Ukrainian defence industry” to use its capacity and speed up the ammunition production in Ukraine.
Russian air attacks on Ukraine continue, with two reported dead and dozens injured
Ukraine reported 171 Russian drone attacks overnight, of which its air defence systems shot 71 down, and 63 were downed by electronic jamming systems or were lost, AFP said.
Russian attacks reportedly killed two people in Sumy and Kharkiv regions, with “several others” wounded after attacks in the border regions. A separate attack in the city of Kropyvnytskyi wounded 10, including four children, Reuters said.
Russia meanwhile said its air defence units had shot down 132 Ukrainian drones in several regions across the country.
EU summit about ‘finalising first stage of perhaps most important European project in decades,’ Tusk says
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk spoke with reporters in Warsaw early morning, before leaving for Brussels, saying the EU summit will be about “finalising the first stage of perhaps the most important European project in last decades: making Europe safe, armed, and united against the Russian threat.”
“You may remember how oftentimes we were alone in warning other European partners against the Russian threat … and now are about to see Europe unite around the very same problem that often saw Poland stand alone,” he said.
Tusk also urged Poland’s president Andrzej Duda to sign into law the bill on migration and asylum law changes, giving the government’s the right to temporarily suspend asylum applications from irregular migrants.
He said the move was needed to counter “the pressure on our border with Belarus … which is growing” as he accused Alexander Lukashenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin of encouraging irregular migration to put pressure on the EU’s external borders, waging “a de facto war – they call it hybrid [war], but it’s something more serious than hybrid war” against Poland.
‘That was Macron, I will call him back,’ Zelenskyy briefs journalists on ‘fruitful, perhaps most fruitful we had’ conversation with Trump
Shaun Walker
in Kyiv
In a Zoom call with journalists late on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he had “felt no pressure” from Trump, adding: “It was a fruitful conversation, perhaps the most fruitful we have had, the mood was positive.
“We have received signals from the United States that we are talking about the ceasefire on energy facilities, so not to attack energy infrastructure, and we are also talking about the civilian infrastructure facilities.”
Zelenskyy said his team would draw up a list of the kind of facilities they felt could be included and would present them to the Americans at upcoming negotiations.
The Ukrainian leader also said that he and Trump had discussed the US proposal to take ownership of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south Ukraine.
“We talked only about one power plant, which is under Russian occupation,” he said.
In a sign that European leaders are closely watching the discussions between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, the Ukraine president answered a phone call while speaking with reporters on Wednesday evening and promised to call back.
Returning to the briefing, he said: “That was President Macron, we have a conversation on average once a day, he’s helping a lot. I will call him back.”
Morning opening: Europe rallies to support Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
It’s another busy day in European diplomacy.
European leaders are meeting in Brussels this morning to discuss Ukraine, Middle East, competitiveness, and European defence, building on a recent extraordinary summit.
Dangling the carrot of multibillion investment in European industries, António Costa, European Council president, wrote to leaders:
Our continued support to Ukraine, the need to invest in our defence and our competitiveness are closely interlinked. A more competitive Union will be a stronger Union, better able to protect its citizens, its interests and its values on the global stage.
In the course of the morning, the leaders will here from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, getting an unfiltered view of his phone call with US president Donald Trump.
In particular, they will be probably keen to hear more about the plans for a limited – but gradually expanding, if possible – ceasefire, and Trump’s unusual promise to “work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe” to support Ukrainian air defence, which could be seen as an indirect rejection of the Russian demand to stop arming Ukraine.
Over lunch, they will also speak with UN secretary general António Guterres; ECB president Christine Lagarde and Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe will also join for a bit.
Their talks are likely to go into late evening, but our attention will shift to Britain in late afternoon, as UK prime minister Keir Starmer hosts over 30 army chiefs and planners to discuss his plans for the “coalition of the willing”.
We should hear from him at some point, too, but in a show of just how serious he is about defence, he made a rare visit to a nuclear-armed submarine HMS Vanguard – a first such visit by a serving prime minister in more than a decade.
But his coalition faces a challenge even before it came into existence as Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has made clear he wouldn’t accept western military aid flowing to Ukraine and Nato forces on Ukrainian soil under any peace settlement. Despite this, there are no signs that his words in any way affected the continuing planning. Ultimately, that’s what “peace through strength” is meant to be about.
Lots to cover – starting from European leaders’ arrivals in Brussels in the next hour or so. I will bring you all the latest here.
It’s Thursday, 20 March 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
