BRUSSELS (AP) — On Thursday, European Union leaders pledged to collaborate in order to enhance the continent’s defences and allocate hundreds of billions of euros for security. This decision was made in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings that he would abandon them to confront the Russian threat alone.
Countries that have been struggling with defence expenditure for decades convened emergency talks in Brussels to investigate novel strategies for bolstering their security and guaranteeing Ukraine’s future protection. The conviction that they will now be responsible for their own security is growing.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, informed reporters following the summit’s conclusion, “History is being written today.”
“The 27 EU leaders are resolute in their commitment to guaranteeing Europe’s security and to responding to this situation with the necessary urgency, scale, and resolve,” she stated. We are resolute in our commitment to invest more, invest more effectively, and invest more quickly in tandem.
The pledge emphasised a significant shift in geopolitics that was prompted by Trump, who has eroded 80 years of cooperation that was founded on the assumption that the United States would assist in the protection of European nations in the aftermath of World War II.
The leaders approved a plan to relax budget constraints in order to enable EU member states that are willing to do so to increase their military expenditures. A statement also stated that they urged the European Commission to explore new methods to “enable substantial defence spending” in all member states.
According to the EU’s executive branch, approximately 650 billion euros ($702 billion) could be released in this manner.
The leaders also acknowledged a commission offer of loans worth 150 billion euros ($162 billion) to purchase new military equipment and urged the EU headquarters staff to “examine this proposal as a matter of urgency.”
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