As Washington suspends military aid to Ukraine, Brussels proposes a massive investment plan for European defense. Ursula von der Leyen presents an ambitious strategy for EU military autonomy.
Europe continues to prepare for American disengagement.
On Tuesday March 4, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, unveiled a plan to “rearm Europe”, which should enable the European Union to mobilize almost 800 billion euros for its defense, and provide immediate aid to Ukraine. This sum includes 150 billion euros in loans, she told the press.
Ursula von der Leyen also proposed relaxing budgetary rules to encourage investment in defense. “This will allow member states to significantly increase their defense spending without triggering the excessive deficit procedure,” she said from Brussels.
U.S. suspends aid to Ukraine
“We’re taking a break and reviewing our aid to make sure it’s contributing to a solution,” announced a White House official on Monday. This decision concerns aid voted during Joe Biden’s term of office, most of which has already been paid out, but equipment and weapons have yet to be delivered.
Benjamin Haddad, the French Minister Delegate for Europe, criticized the decision on France 2: “If we want peace, does a decision to suspend arms supplies to Ukraine strengthen peace or move it further away? It takes it away because it would only strengthen the hand of the aggressor.”
Differences over financing and strategy
France is opposed to using Russian assets to finance the European military effort. According to French Economy Minister Eric Lombard, capturing frozen Russian assets would be “contrary to international agreements”. “France’s position is that these Russian assets belong in particular to the Central Bank of Russia,” he said on Franceinfo, adding that ‘these cannot be assets that would be captured’.
Peer de Jong, vice-president of the Themiis Institute and a former colonel in the Marine Corps, believes that “Europe is not in a position to compensate for this American shortfall” and points to “a global fossilization of American aid to Ukraine”. “There were still between three and four billion euros worth of equipment to be delivered,” he says.
Divergent positions between Washington and Kiev
In an interview with Fox News, US Vice President JD Vance said the Ukrainian president had “shown a clear refusal to engage in the peace process” sought by Donald Trump. “I think Zelensky wasn’t there yet, and I think, frankly, he’s still not there, but I think we’ll get there eventually. We have to,” he declared.
For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky asserted on X that it was “very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantial to end this war as soon as possible.” The Ukrainian president also reiterated his call for Ukraine to be provided with security guarantees, pointing out that “it was the absence of security guarantees for Ukraine 11 years ago that allowed Russia to begin the occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbass, and then the absence of security guarantees allowed Russia to launch a full-scale invasion.”
We are living in dangerous times.
Europe‘s security is threatened in a very real way.
Today I present ReArm Europe.
A plan for a safer and more resilient Europe ↓ https://t.co/CYTytB5ZMk
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 4, 2025