Yesterday, at the European Council meeting, European Union member states unanimously approved the Commission’s proposed ReArm programme with the exception of Hungary, which did not approve the final text. The Commissioner President Ursula von der Leyen said these are exceptional measures in exceptional times while Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Europe needs to enter into an arms race against Russia and win.
The ReArm programme will provide up to €150 billion in loans for EU member states to purchase European weaponry. The savings union will be introduced rapidly so as to help induce investment in the private industry. There will be increased efforts to conduct joint-procurement of weaponry between EU member states while defence expenditure will also be exempt from the excessive-deficit procedure. The EU Commission President confirmed that the national escape clause from the excessive-deficit procedure is voluntary, however she said that all member-states have shown interest in using it.
Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union was activated in order to bypass the European Parliament and introduce the programme swiftly, but European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was also present for the Council meeting and stated that the ReArm programme had been long awaited and Europe has the capacity to execute it.
President Volodymyr Zelensky was also president for the EU Council meeting marking an interesting event in terms of progress in EU-Ukrainian cooperation and integration. The EU made a very strong public show of support for President Zelensky. In tangible terms, France, like the UK, is offering Ukraine boots on the ground as a security guarantee, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has suggested that NATO’s Article 5 could be applied to Ukraine as a security guarantee.
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