NATO, G7 and EU on Ukraine: Three summits – and many sensitive issues

Brussels has seldom experienced such a concentration of summits. NATO, the G7 countries and the EU discuss on one day – each focusing on the Ukraine war. An overview of the main points:

In view of the images and news from the war zone, the West is basically ready to further tighten the punitive measures against Russia. The question is how? Denmark could consider closing European ports to Russian and Belarusian ships, while Poland wants to cut Russia off from world trade.

For the time being, however, there will be no ban on gas or oil imports, as proposed by the Baltic states or Ireland – even though the raw materials business washes hundreds of millions into Putin’s war chest every day. Germany, among others, is (still) against it, and the Netherlands and Italy also believe that they cannot easily replace deliveries from Russia. Hungary even wants to veto a gas boycott.

military aid

Panzerfaust, anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition and fuel – the EU is doubling the money for arms purchases from the joint peace fund to one billion euros. Germany and the Netherlands do not want to be reimbursed for their previous deliveries from the fund and call on the other member states to follow this example.

There is still no majority for the Polish idea of ​​​​delivering fighter jets to Ukraine via Ramstein. The same applies to a no-fly zone and the Polish proposal for a NATO peacekeeping mission. In order to be able to secure peace, the war must first be over, according to the Netherlands, for example. Germany is also critical of a NATO mission in Ukraine and warns of a conflagration.

war refugees

More than three and a half million people have already left Ukraine, and Brussels estimates that it will be eight, nine or even ten million in the next few weeks. The EU provides money for accommodation and care. So far, however, there is no Europe-wide distribution system.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia want to get by without help from Brussels for the time being and reject a quota system. Probably also to prevent them from being obliged to take in refugees from other regions in future crises.

energy

The EU wants to free itself from dependence on Russian oil and gas as quickly as possible. By the end of the year, imports are to fall by two-thirds and be replaced by liquid gas from Qatar or the USA. The EU countries are required to fill their gas storage facilities by at least 90 percent by autumn.

In addition, the EU wants to buy gas and hydrogen together in order to be able to negotiate better, because energy costs are going through the roof everywhere in Europe. Therefore, the von der Leyen Commission should examine how it can be prevented that the costs of electricity explode with rising gas prices. The proposal to introduce a gas price cap is controversial.

EU enlargement

Ukraine, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova want to join the European Union as soon as possible. The EU Commission has the applications on the table and is examining whether the three countries can be classified as “candidate countries”, which usually takes months, sometimes even years. There has to be more speed in the Ukraine, according to Eastern Europe in particular. Others, such as Germany, the Netherlands or France, are against hasty enlargement and want to stick to the usual procedure. The political signal that Ukraine belongs to Europe and can become a member of the EU should therefore remain – but not today and not tomorrow either.