The EU summit in Brussels had numerous construction sites. At the end of the day, there was an agreement on new financing for Ukraine aid and the course was set for further accession. Another major project is on the agenda today.
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the question at this EU summit is how Europe can set up its own defense in the future. There is agreement that upgrading to deter potential attacks will cost a lot of money.
But opinions differ as to where the funds should come from. The idea favored by France and Spain that the EU would take on joint debt, similar to the fight against the consequences of the corona pandemic, is not only viewed with skepticism by Germany. The first priority is to increase military aid to Ukraine.
Profits from Russian assets for Ukraine
And some very important decisions were made at this summit, as Council President Charles Michel announced at a nightly press conference: “Above all, we will now quickly make it possible to skim off profits from Russian assets frozen in the EU. And with part of the money “We will help Ukraine, including with military equipment.”
We are talking about three billion euros annually. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj called on the summit participants gathered in Brussels in a video address on Thursday to use all of Russia’s frozen assets, around 200 billion euros, to support his country, which was rejected by some EU member states.
Clear appeal to Israel
There was surprising agreement on the second major conflict of the present. Israel is called upon to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Previously, there had been a long exchange of views with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who attended the meeting as a guest.
It is important to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip, said Guterres. Just as the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th should be denounced, one must also condemn the fact that the number of civilian victims in Gaza has reached a level that he had never seen before during his time as UN Secretary General.
Accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina
A notable result of this summit is that the EU opened accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina. The future of the Balkan Republic lies in the Union. That was the message, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “I welcome the historic decision to start EU accession negotiations with Bosnia Herzegovina.” The country has made impressive steps towards the EU, “and has achieved more in one year than it has achieved in a decade. And I hope that today’s decision will lead to further progress.”
This also depends on when the accession negotiations will actually begin. This was also the case with Ukraine and Moldova last December.
Movement in the effort for banking union
On the second day of the EU summit, a meeting of the Eurozone is on the agenda today, in which all 27 heads of state and government will take part this time. Among other things, the President of the European Central Bank, Christin Lagarde, will assess the financial policy situation in Europe.
It is also about a roadmap for making progress on the banking and capital markets union. France in particular has been putting pressure on this for years, and it appears that the previously rather hesitant federal government is joining in, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz made clear on the sidelines of the summit: “I want to make it very clear here that the most important deficit is in Europe’s competitiveness is the lack of a capital markets union, the lack of a banking union. I would like us to make substantial progress on this in the next period.”
After the European elections in June, the new EU Commission should receive concrete work orders. The aim is to make banks more crisis-proof and at the same time to mobilize more private capital, for example to achieve climate goals.