European leaders obtained a message from Washington about making more effort to defend them and Ukraine as well. They speak strongly when it comes to supporting Ukraine and protecting their own borders, and they are standing in the Trump administration difficult and even hostile.
But there is an inevitable gap between talking and work, and unity is already breaking, especially when it comes to spending money and restoring them in a period of low growth and increased debt.
Dutch and others are not lovers of raising the collective debts of defense. Maintaining Hungary on the plane is more difficult than ever.
When the European Commission President, Ursula von der Layen, announced a plan for other billions of army, which is called “Relaed Europe”, two of the largest countries in the bloc, Italy and Spain, believed that this is somewhat aggressive. So the plan has now been renamed as “preparedness 2030”.
This is a year after Donald Trump was not expected to be president. But this is also a realistic understanding that Europe’s new commitment to self -reliance will take time, as it takes billions of euros, political preservation and cooperation with the United States.
Kaja Class, former Estonia Prime Minister, is now a foreign and security official in the European Union, was a strong defender to support Ukraine as a first line of European defense against aggressive opposite Russia.
But it was a rocky beginning of Mrs. Callas. Its efforts to obtain the European Union to provide up to 40 billion euros (more than $ 43 billion) have not reached Ukraine through a small tax on the national income of each country.
A European Union official, an official in the European Union, said, speaking unknown, according to diplomatic practice, that its pre -trial proposal, for 5 billion euros as a first step towards providing artillery shells worth two million euros this year, and spoke unknown according to diplomatic practice. The two countries insisted that the contributions in Ukraine remain voluntary and dualism and are not required by Brussels.
The last responded to Mr. Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine to a ceasefire without security assurances, so many wrong ways, whether in Europe or Washington, were scattered as a dangerous premature. “The free world needs a new leader,” she Books on x. “It is up to us, Europeans, to face this challenge.”
But in reality the Europeans are working hard to respond to Mr. Trump in a convincing way. Mrs. von der Lynn sold the armament or preparation plan with 800 billion euros. But only 150 billion euros of this is real money, and it is available as long -term loans for countries that they want to use for the army. The rest is simply a virtual figure-a four-year permission from the bloc of the countries to borrow more for military purposes than its national budgets.
For a country like Germany, which has low debts, it is likely that it works, especially now after the upcoming advisor, Fredchiich Mirz, got the parliament for the agreement To reduce its debt rules To allow great spending on infrastructure, military climate and climate.
But for countries like Italy and Spain, which can feel far from Russia and have its own financial problems, this may not be an easy option. France, although President Emmanuel Macron’s strong words about European “strategic autonomy” and his desire to lead the continent are the same very debtor, and accumulating more debts political and economically dangerous.
France, too, Insist High The percentage of European content and manufacturing For any weapons purchased with new loans, and are working so far to prevent American, British and Canadian companies from participating. And other issues parasitize; The European Union’s effort to draft a defense agreement with Britain is held by Paris on quarrels on fish fisheries.
But Europe will spend more on the defense, and I knew that, Ian Lider, director of the Brussels office at the German Marshall Fund. He said: “The emergence of the Trump administration gave history.” “We are not in a written environment, with the path of linear spending.”
NATO, too, the major European countries began to speak seriously about how to replace the vital American role in the coalition – both in terms of advanced weapons and political and military leadership. But there is a slight desire to accelerate any rupture with Washington, as it is possible that any such transition takes five or even 10 years.
Now, 23 of 27 states in the European Union are also members of NATO, including about 95 percent of the European Union citizens, and NATO has its own requirements for the new military spending. European countries are discussing what Mr. Trump would propose at the next NATO summit in June, in The Hague, which will ensure American cooperation in any transition.
But while Trump officials assured European officials in particular that the American president supports NATO, will retain the American nuclear umbrella on Europe and remain committed to collective defense, Mr. Trump’s opinions are subject to change, and continue to offer NATO as a club where members are paid for American protection.
During his first term, he often contemplates NATO while saying that the United States will only defend countries that pay enough to defense. This month, repeat This warning. NATO members have been pushing up to 5 percent of the GDP of defense, which is much more than the United States, which spends about 3.4 percent of GDP on its global army.
NATO officials want to set a new goal of spending at the summit in June, but one is closer to 3.5 percent of GDP, up from 2 percent now.
The strengthening of concerns in Europe that the United States has no longer a reliable partner was the extraordinary debate among the senior Trump administration officials in the American strike on Yemen, which was revealed by Jeffrey Goldberg. In the Atlantic Ocean, It was unintentionally added to the group chat on the messaging application signal.
The discussion was full of comments such as these Vice President JD Vance: “I just hate to save the Europeans again.” There were messages of superiority about finding a way to make Europe pay the price of the process – but nothing about China, which greatly benefits from the trade that passes through the strait near Yemen, including many oil imports and exporting it to Europe.
Mr. Trump’s sudden suggestion last week that a future American fighter plane may be sold to the allies In a classified version He also strengthened these concerns.
Britain and France, motivated by Mr. Trump’s intention to leave Ukraine’s defense to Europe, call for the European “power of reassurance” on the ground in Ukraine as soon as a peace settlement is reached between Kiev and Moscow, if one of them is. But so far, no other country has publicly volunteered to work in such a force, which has not been largely defined and unbalanced, which Russia has been constantly rejected.
Mr. Macron will meet President Voludmir Zelinski from Ukraine on Wednesday night. Then, on Thursday, it is scheduled to host in another meeting of this “coalition from those who wish”, the list of guests is unclear. But Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkeov, Call “Simplification” and “the situation and placed”.
The efforts to establish a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine continued, with the announcement on Tuesday that the two countries agreed to stop the attacks on ships in the Black Sea. But even this agreement was subject to a Russian demand that Western countries decrease restrictions on Russian agricultural exports.
Mrs. von der Lynn talks about making Ukraine a “steel text”, very difficult for Russia to swallow in the future, which is an echo of Early plan For the Ukrainian defense formulated by the former Secretary -General of NATO, Anders Rasmussen.
But even the solid pulp is not a security guarantee, which involves an endless obligation to support Ukraine.
Prime Minister Bart de Wayer from Belgium summarized the European problem last week. Mr. Macron praised him for raising a “coalition of those who wish” to enhance Ukraine’s military aid with a decrease in US support. But he said he appealed to a little more structure in the group.
“We are ready – but we are ready to do what, exactly?” He asked.
