EU heads of state and government will meet tomorrow for an extraordinary European Council meeting in Brussels to discuss about future support for Ukraine. Reinhard Bütikofer, foreign policy expert of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, comments:
“Rarely has the proposed final declaration before an EU summit been shorter than this time. But the importance of this Council cannot be overestimated. It is a question of whether the European Union, in its frequently proclaimed solidarity with Ukraine, is in a position to act together as required, or whether it will allow itself to be prevented from responding appropriately to the scale of the Russian threat by blockade manoeuvres by a single member state or by unacknowledged, corrosive hesitations within its own ranks. To preserve peace in Europe is currently only possible by pushing back against Russia. At the same time, the future viability of the European security architecture is being fought for in Ukraine. In view of the obstacles to decisions on support for Ukraine that President Biden has to deal with, the EU has an even stronger role to play. A fair goal, even if this is currently still beyond the Council’s horizon, would be for all EU member states to make 0.25% of their GDP available for aid to Ukraine.”
