The European Union observes, at least for the moment, how the events that directly question it on the future of Ukraine are happening. Also the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, has been a spectator of the negotiations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which generate a huge distrust in Europe. At the moment, caution is imposed, but the message sent by European leaders is clear: previous conditions of the Russian president for a peace negotiation are not accepted. And that includes the rejection of the demand of the Kremlin that the West stops military assistance to Ukraine.
“We have been supporting Ukraine from day one, and we will continue to support Ukraine now, in future negotiations and especially in peacetime, when Ukraine becomes a member state of the European Union,” replied the president of the European Council, António Costa, to the question of whether the EU would be willing to stop supplying weapons to Zelenski in favor of the conversations. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, seconded the words of Costa.
The previous day, after the call between Trump and Putin, Moscow had imposed “the total cessation of the supply of kyiv of foreign military aid and intelligence (…) to avoid an escalation of the conflict and move towards its resolution by political and diplomatic means.” Despite the doubts that this bilateral negotiation generates in the EU, Costa said it is a “step” towards peace. After talking with Zelenski, who has accepted the high -minimum fire agreement, Costa has valued Trump’s negotiation again, despite the initial misgivings: “Stop the attacks on energy and civil infrastructure would be a real and important first step towards the end of the war.”
The United States and Ukraine agreed at their last week meeting in the Saudi city of Yeda Resume military assistance and intelligence exchange, after the suspension decreed for approximately one week by Washington to press kyiv to accept his proposal of high fire without security guarantees.
“And [Putin] He says that we must stop the support of Ukraine, it will be reflected in the conclusions of the summit exactly the opposite, ”said diplomatic sources on the EU leaders meeting held in Brussels this Thursday.
And is that the message that comes from the vast majority of European capitals, with the exception of Budapest and despite the division with respect to the new help pack of 40,000 million aid to Ukraine that the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, has raised, is that the help channel will continue in the short, the medium and long term.
That is one of the signs that also gives the White Defense Paper presented by the European Commission this Wednesday and that aims to be the road map that “prepares” the EU for its autonomous security and defense from here to 2030, according to the date that Von der Leyen put. “Ukraine deserves continuous military support to defend against military aggression and to ensure that he can defend himself in the future,” says the document.
The EU not only intends to maintain that military assistance to Ukraine outside any negotiation of high fire or peace process, but also “the commission will promote the integration of the Ukrainian defense industry in the single market, will support the extension of the military mobility corridors with Ukraine and explore Ukraine access to the EU’s spatial government services”. The idea is to integrate Ukraine into the Single Defense market while progressing in its annexation to the EU.
“The defense needs of Ukraine will continue to be high beyond any high fire or short -term peace agreement,” says the White Book of Defense. In this sense, it is established that “Ukraine will continue to be in the first line of European defense and security, and is the key theater to define the new international order.” The EU defines its plan for Ukraine as a “porcospin strategy” that is “capable of deterring any possible new attack and guaranteeing lasting peace”. “Thus, it is imperative that the EU and its member states urgently increase their military aid to Ukraine,” he concludes.
65% of loans for the ‘Made in Europe’
And the threat of Russia is what underlies the ‘War Economy’ that the EU is developing. Although it is a way in which it carries rhetorically since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Donald Trump’s return to the White House has made European leaders step on the accelerator. Ursula von der Leyen has presented them with a ‘rearme plan’ to spend 800,000 million euros in the coming years. The European Commission has advanced in the details of that proposal, which fundamentally discharges these costs in national budgets through fiscal rules so that the 1.5% increase in GDP (about 650,000 million) in defense does not compute when evaluating the deficit and debt, and loans worth 150,000 million that must be at least 65% of production ‘Made in Europe’ European and Ukraine Economic Space).
“The cost of the native components of the Union, of the EEE-AELC or Ukraine states may not be less than 65% of the estimated cost of the final product. No component will come from another third country that contravenes the interest and defense interests of the Union or its member states,” says the SAFE regulation with which Brussels has designed the legislative tool for the development of the European defense industry.
The European Commission opens the door for countries with which the EU has security agreements (Norway, Moldova, Japan, South Korea, Macedonia del Norte and Albania), as well as the candidates to join the community club. The United Kingdom remains at the moment, despite the fact that security collaboration is one of the keys to the new relationship after Brexit. “We are working on having this partariado with the United Kingdom and I hope that at the May summit we can have results,” explained the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas.
However, the requirement ‘Made in Europe’ will be binding only for purchases that are articulated around those loans promoted by the European Commission. For example, what countries buy on their own will not have that conditioning. Diplomatic sources point out that healthy economies such as the Dutch, who intends to ask for those loans sponsored by the European Commission, will buy equipment from third countries, such as F35 fighters to the US.
In previous drafts of the White Book of Defense, some “principles” were established when carrying out national purchases that first were looking for solutions in the EU; Negotiate with European suppliers, possibly with the support of the EU, to reduce prices and delivery deadlines guaranteeing at the same time the necessary level of performance; And, in case there is no solution within the community club, several Member States be grouped to “consolidate their demand towards companies from third countries with related ideas.” But that has disappeared from the final writing.
Another requirement to access loans is that at least two member states (or one of them together with Ukraine) participate and the European Commission establishes seven preferential areas for the “gaps” that it has identified in the industry: artillery systems, air defense and ballistics, missiles and ammunition, drones and anti -antrons, space technology, military mobility, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
Incentives such as VAT exemption
To mobilize the purchase of weapons, Brussels also proposes “incentives”, as a temporary exemption from VAT for these types of products that are acquired jointly through that regulation.
“Together we are stronger,” said the high representative, Kaja Kallas, in the presentation of that defense package: “It is faster and cheaper to work together.”
Despite the American turn and the insistence on developing European strategic autonomy, the document insists that NATO “remains the cornerstone of the collective defense of its members in Europe.”
In the EU, the debate on the increase in spending has become the central element of the discussions of governments, which involve from the leaders to the defense ministers through those responsible for the economy. These are responsible for preparing the parameter lists that are intended to include as security and defense expenses when they compute in the evaluation of fiscal rules.
Spain – which insists that “nothing has to do” the situation in the countries of Eastern border with Russia with respect to Westerners and the south – wants the fan to be as wide as possible and that not only the strictly military expense is taken into account but also cybersecurity, the protection of borders, of physical infrastructure or preparation against emergencies derived from the climate emergency, as Pedro Sánchez Sánchez, as In an act in Aragon.
In Brussels they do not close the door to include cybersecurity of dual use when the priority objective is the defense. However, they cool the possibility that related investments such as climatic emergencies are included. “Normally, it is not considered defense expense,” says community sources.
Source: www.eldiario.es
