EU leaders back new defense spending plans after Trump signals that Europe must fend for itself

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders on Thursday backed new defense spending plans aimed at freeing up billions of euros for the continent’s security after the Trump administration signaled that Europe would have to fend for itself in future.

Facing the prospect that the United States might cut them adrift, EU leaders held emergency talks in Brussels to explore new ways to beef up their own security and ensure that Ukraine will still be protected.

The 27 leaders signed off on a move to loosen budget restrictions so that willing EU countries can increase their military spending. They also urged the European Commission to seek new ways “to facilitate significant defense spending at national level in all Member States,” a statement said.

The EU’s executive branch estimates that around 650 billion euros ($702 billion) could be freed up in this way.

The leaders also took note of a commission offer of a loan package worth 150 billion euros ($162 billion) to buy new military equipment and invited EU headquarters staff “to examine this proposal as a matter of urgency.”

In recent weeks, Trump has overturned old certainties about the reliability of the U.S. as a security partner, as he embraces Russia, withdraws American support for Ukraine and upends the cornerstones of cooperation with Europe that have been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said that three years of war in Ukraine and new attitudes in Washington “pose entirely new challenges for us, and Europe must take up this challenge ... and it must win.”

“We will arm ourselves faster, smarter, and more efficiently than Russia,” Tusk said.

The plan to loosen budget rules originated with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who oversees the EU's executive arm.

Spending plans win early support

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the plan and expressed hopes that some of it could be used to bolster Ukraine's own defense industry, which can produce weapons more cheaply than elsewhere in Europe and closer to the battlefields where they are needed.

"We are very thankful that we are not alone, and these are not just words. We feel it. It's very important," Zelenskyy said, looking far more relaxed among Europe's leaders in Brussels than almost a week ago when he received a verbal lashing from Trump in Washington.

Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, and summit chairman Antonio Costa discussed ways to fortify Europe's defenses on a short deadline. Merz pushed plans this week to loosen his nation's rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending.

Others too appeared ready to do more.

“Spend, spend, spend on defense and deterrence. That’s the most important message,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters.

The call is a sharp departure from decades of decline in military spending in Europe, where defense often ranked low in many budgetary considerations after the end of the Cold War.

In an address to his country Wednesday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron said the bloc would “take decisive steps forward."

“Member states will be able to increase their military spending,” he said, noting that “massive joint funding will be provided to buy and produce some of the most innovative munitions, tanks, weapons and equipment in Europe.”

Macron was expected to confer with his EU counterparts about possibility of using France's nuclear deterrent to protect the continent from Russian threats.

Helping EU countries find more funds

Von der Leyen's plan was hailed by many, but its short-term benefits are not obvious. Most of the increased defense spending would have to come from national budgets at a time when many countries are already overburdened with debt.

Part of her scheme includes measures to ensure struggling member states will not be punished for going too deep into the red if additional spending is earmarked for defense.

“Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself,” she said.

France is struggling to reduce an excessive annual budget deficit of 5% of GDP, after running up its total debt burden to 112% of GDP with spending on relief for businesses and consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Five other countries using the euro currency have debt levels over 100% of GDP: Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, has more room to borrow, with a debt level of 62% of GDP.

Pressing security needs in Ukraine

Part of any security plan would be to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian attacks such as the one that hit Zelenskyy's hometown overnight.

A Russian missile killed four people staying at a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, shortly after volunteers from a humanitarian organization moved in. The volunteers included Ukrainian, American and British nationals, but it wasn't clear whether those people were among the 31 who were wounded.

Early this week, Trump ordered a pause in U.S. military supplies being sent to Ukraine as he sought to press Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia. The move brought fresh urgency to Thursday's summit.

But the meeting was unlikely to address Ukraine's most pressing needs. It was not aimed at drumming up more arms and ammunition to fill any supply vacuum created by the U.S. freeze. Nor will all nations agree to unblock the estimated 183 billion euros ($196 billion) in frozen Russian assets held in a Belgian clearing house, a pot of ready cash that could be seized.

As always among the 27 nations, a major challenge is building a united stance at a moment when the bloc is fractured, since many of its actions require unanimous support. Hungary threatened to veto part of the summit statement on Ukraine.

“We have to take decisions no matter the one or two which are opposing every time,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. “Otherwise history will penalize us, and we will pay a very high cost.”

Thursday's summit was unlikely to produce immediate decisions on spending for Ukraine or Europe's own defenses. Another EU summit where the real contours of a plan could become clearer is set for March 20 and 21.

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Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Brussels; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal; and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.