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EU chief unveils 800bn Euro ($900bn) plan to rearm Europe

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Another great victory for Russia.   Fly the Russian flag with pride.


Trump has earned a pat on the head from Putin for this move.


All that money will go to tax cuts for Elon and the members of Trump's 
cabinet and one day may trickle down to your begging hands.

EU chief unveils €800bn ($900bn) plan to ‘rearm’ Europe

‘We are ready to step up’ says Ursula von der Leyen after US suspends 
military aid to Ukraine

    Europe live – latest updates

Jon Henley Europe correspondent
Tue 4 Mar 2025 10.33 GMT

A five-part plan to bolster Europe’s defence industry and increase its 
military capability could raise nearly €800bn (Ł660bn) and help provide 
urgent military support for Ukraine after the US suspended aid to Kyiv, the 
head of the European Commission has said.

Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday the 27-member bloc would propose 
giving member states more fiscal space for defence investments, as well as 
€150bn in loans for those investments, and would also aim to mobilise 
private capital.

Presenting the “ReArm Europe” package in Brussels, von der Leyen said: 
“This is a moment for Europe, and we are ready to step up.” The proposals 
“could mobilise close to €800bn of defence expenditures for a safe and 
resilient Europe”, she added.

The announcement followed Washington’s decision to suspend all US military 
aid to Ukraine, blocking billions of dollars’ worth of ammunition, vehicles 
and other vital equipment as Donald Trump piles pressure on Kyiv to agree a 
peace deal with Russia.

The US president’s announcement came after heated exchanges in the White 
House on Friday between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr 
Zelenskyy, and a crisis meeting in London on Sunday at which European 
leaders rallied round Kyiv.

Trump’s direct approach to Russia on ending the Ukraine war has thrown 
Ukraine’s future into question and left Europe contemplating the stark 
prospect of the US withdrawing longer-term support from Ukraine and from 
its European allies.

EU leaders are due to discuss the proposals at a special summit devoted to 
defence spending in Brussels on Thursday – although diplomats have said 
immediate decisions beyond strong commitments were unlikely.

“A new era is upon us,” the commission president wrote to EU leaders. 
“Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us has 
seen in our adult lifetime … We are living in the most momentous and 
dangerous of times.”

The commission’s plan includes €150bn of new joint EU borrowing that would 
be lent to EU governments to fund pan-European capabilities in areas such 
as air and missile defence, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition, drones 
and other needs.

“It will help member states to pool demand and to buy together. This will 
reduce costs, reduce fragmentation, increase interoperability and 
strengthen our defence industrial base,” von der Leyen said.

“With this equipment, member states can massively step up their support to 
Ukraine. So, immediate military equipment for Ukraine,” she added.

The commission would also propose loosening the fiscal constraints the EU 
puts on government spending to “allow member states to significantly 
increase their defence expenditures” without triggering punishing budget 
deficit rules, she said.

“If member states increase their defence spending by 1.5% of GDP on 
average, this could create fiscal space of close to €650bn over a period of 
four years,” von der Leyen said. Defence spending in many EU states is 
below the Nato target of 2% of GDP.
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The package also includes action by the European Investment Bank – which EU 
member states want to drop limits on lending to defence firms – and on a 
savings and investments union to help European companies access capital.

France’s finance minister, Eric Lombard, said on Tuesday that his country 
would have to spend “faster and harder” on defence even if it meant it 
would have to make savings elsewhere, although though the welfare system 
would largely remain intact.

Lombard rejected seizing Russian assets to fund European military spending, 
saying Paris’s position was that “these Russian assets … belong notably to 
the Russian central bank” and seizing them “would be contrary to 
international agreements”.

The European Commission insisted that the US remained “an ally”, saying 
that it was “not up to us to comment on decisions or announcements that are 
made on the other side of the Atlantic”.

Deputy chief spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters: “We know that 
it’s important to support Ukraine also in its defence – also to make sure 
that it’s in a better negotiating place.”

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EU chief unveils 800bn Euro ($900bn) plan to rearm Europe "Putin's Bitch DJT" <x@y.com> - 2025-03-04 17:50 +0000

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