EU leaders reassure Ukraine of support and arms

EU leaders used the second day of their summit meeting in Brussels to reassure Ukraine that their support for the beleaguered country’s defence against the Russian invasion and occupation will not waver.

Having been addressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday, EU leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine on Friday and pledged to “continue to provide strong financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes”.

Several EU leaders, including the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, said that the current focus on the conflict in Gaza – which dominated the first day of the two-day summit – should not distract the EU from its commitments to Ukraine.

“It’s really important that we don’t lose focus on Ukraine,” Mr Varadkar said. “We need to double down on our support for Ukraine – political, military, financial and other supports.”

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In agreed conclusions issued at the end of Friday’s meeting, EU leaders recognized the need to “accelerate the delivery of military support to Ukraine to help meet its pressing military and defence needs, including missiles and ammunition... as well as air defence systems to protect its people and its critical and energy infrastructure”.

“In the longer term,” the statement said, “the European Union and Member States will contribute, together with partners, to future security commitments to Ukraine, which will help Ukraine defend itself, resist destabilisation efforts and deter acts of aggression in the future.”

Speaking at a post-summit press conference, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU would seek to use revenues from frozen Russian assets – which she said were valued at over €200 billion – to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. She also said that the EU was preparing its 12th round of sanctions against Russia and reiterated support for Ukraine’s efforts to join to the EU.

“We will support Ukraine as it walks the path toward accession,” she said.

Also at the summit, EU leaders were briefed on economic and financial matters by ECB President Christine Lagarde and by Paschal Donohoe, attending as President of the Eurogroup, the body of finance ministers whose countries use the single currency.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, Mr Donohoe said that negotiations were underway to agree new fiscal rules for the EU, which would be introduced next year.

The new rules would govern rules on the size of deficits that countries are allowed to run. Existing EU rules were suspended during the pandemic, but are due to be reimposed next year.

With EU elections due at the beginning of next summer, Mr Donohoe said, any new version of the fiscal rules would have to be agreed by the first quarter of next year. “That’s the deadline,” he said.

Mr Donohoe said the discussion among EU leaders on inflation was more optimistic than it had been in the past, with most countries seeing their rate of inflation halving since last year. “We are getting it down. We need to keep at it,” he said. He added, however, that the situation in the Middle East added a new element of uncertainty to the outlook.