Wołodymyr Zelnski at the Extraordinary Summit of the European Council

From the time of the last meeting of the “27” leaders on February 3, Washington began talks with Moscow without the participation of Kiev and European allies and announced the suspension of military assistance for Ukraine. The President of Ukraine will join the leaders of the European Union countries Wołodymyr Zelanski.

The change in American policy towards the Kremlin did not affect Europe's approach to the United States. – European Union wants to show that USA They are still a friend, and that he seriously treats Washington's calls to increase defense expenses – emphasized the EU source.

The attitude towards Washington was also not changed by the US president's quarrel Donald Trump with Zełnski in the White House. – Transatlantic relations are unchanged. It takes much more than just screams to change European policy – said the diplomat of one of the member states leading in discussions about Ukraine.

Leaders in Brussels will also consider the issue of organizing the EU-US summit, which the premiere proposed Italian Giorgia Meloni and who has already supported several leaders. Unofficially it is said that such a meeting would be convened by the host of EU peaks, chairman of the European Council Antonio Costa. It is not known, however, whether Zelanski would have been invited to them.

Thursday peak is also to show that the EU is ready to invest in its own safety and become independent of the US as a security guarantor. To this end, leaders are to give green light for the Plan to Disserting Europe, presented on Tuesday by the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. A key element of the plan are loans of EUR 150 billion, which will be granted depending on the demand reported by member countries.

The EC also wants to loosen budget rules, thanks to which states will be able to increase defense expenses without exposing themselves to the excessive deficit procedure. In turn, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is – about which PAP informed on Tuesday as the first – ready to extend the scope of financing to unapensious military investments, which means, for example, military bases, but not ammunition or weapons. Until now, EBI has only financed so -called projects double application.

As she heard PAP from EU sources, most member states reacted positively to von der Leyen. Although the EU will be able to cover only part of its needs from EUR 150 billion, and the possibilities of increasing expenses by you estimated by the EC at EUR 650 billion will depend only on the will of the capitals, in Brussels there is a belief that the plan is only the first step on the road to the defense union.

– It will be the opening of a new chapter in the Book of the Defense Union, which we start writing – assessed the EU source. The plan of von der Leyen will be clarified on March 19 in the so -called White Book. Then work on its implementation is to start.

For subsequent initiatives in the area of ​​defense, among which Euro -Bligations would be the furthest idea, Brussels may encourage the policy of the future chancellor German Friedrich Merz. His new government is to strive to loosen the fundamental brake principle from which defense expenditure would be excluded in the German Act. “This is a clear tip for us that a lot can happen in this respect,” said the diplomat in Brussels.

Much less clear is the message from the summit in terms of support for Ukraine. In conclusions, leaders will confirm their support, but without specifics. “The situation is too dynamic, so that today it is possible to determine what security guarantees will be, although many countries today declare their readiness to grant them. The EU wants to support Ukraine so that its position is as strong as possible in peaceful talks” – emphasized the EU source.

In conclusions, leaders are to call to accelerate work on further support of Ukraine, including the initiative of the High EU representative for foreign and defense kai Kallas. Estonka proposed that by the end of this year the EU would finance new military support for Ukraine. Money would come, among others from the contributions of member countries proportional to the size of their national income.

They do not agree to the conclusions of Ukraine Hungary. Slovakia In turn, he wants the document to contain a provision guaranteeing further transit of Russian gas through Ukraine (Kiev suspended it at the beginning of the year). One of the diplomats did not rule out that if Hungary did not withdraw the veto, the other leaders would accept conclusions without their participation.