LAST UPDATE | 6 Mar 2025

Daragh Brophy reports from Brussels

MEMBER STATES HAVE signed off on plans to massively boost EU defences at a special summit meeting this evening, backing Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s multi-billion dollar proposals to ‘ReArm Europe’.

The agreement follows a week of significant moves by European leaders to fill a potential vacuum in the continent’s defence as the US steps away from its longheld role as a security backstop.

Tonight’s agreement comes 24 hours after French President Emmanuel Macron raised concerns in a TV address of “a new era” and told viewers Europe had to be prepared for a future without the US by its side. 

The 27 heads of government agreed to “accelerate the mobilisation” of financing to bolster security and underscored the need to defend “land, air and maritime borders” particularly along the EU’s eastern flank.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is. We are delivering on what we promised, to build our deterrence to strengthen the security of our citizens,” European Council chief Antonio Costa told reporters. 

We are coming out of this European Council determined.

These are extraordinary times.
They call for extraordinary measures.

With REARM Europe, we'll equip our Union with the capabilities it needs to support Ukraine and defend itself ↓ https://t.co/4e1t39jryk

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 6, 2025

However, as had been widely expected, Hungary’s Viktor Orban vetoed planned wording on Ukraine. Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico, who has also been at odds with the EU’s approach to the conflict, did however sign the summit text.

Coming in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s decision last month to open direct talks with Russia, the agreement states that there can be “no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine”.

It adds: “There can be no negotiations that affect European security without Europe’s involvement.”

Reiterating the EU’s ‘peace through strength’ policy, it states that Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position to negotiate an end to the war and says the bloc is committed to “stepping up” pressure on Russia, including through fresh sanctions. 

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) with Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and Poland's Donald Tusk. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Asked about Hungary’s veto of the statement on Ukraine, Ireland’s minister for EU affairs Thomas Byrne said that all of the leaders at the summit “have their own particular perspective, and you try and mould that together”.

“It’s difficult, but it works nearly all of the time, and almost worked today.”

Orban is the only EU leader to have maintained ties with Putin in the three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Macron made a last minute attempt to get the Hungarian leader on side in advance of the summit by inviting him to Paris for one-on-one talks last night – but it had been widely expected that his gambit would fail.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, speaking as he arrived at the summit this afternoon, said he expected the measures contained in the new defence plan would be of interest to eastern and Nordic states in particular.

The measures include plans to make loans worth €150 billion available to member states for spending on security and defence. 

The proposals would help “countries who need these mechanisms to increase their spending on defence,” said Martin. “Particularly some countries who feel very vulnerable at the moment in terms of the Russian threat.”

Zelenskyy meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the sidelines of the summit. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended meetings at the Europa Building before the summit proper started this afternoon.

Flanked by von der Leyen and Costa, he thanked the EU’s leaders for their show of support for his country. “We are very thankful that we are not alone,” Zelenskyy said.

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Greeting the Ukrainian leader in front of a throng of hundreds of reporters, von der Leyan told Zelenskyy the EU was with him for “as long as it takes”. The summit, she said, was a “watershed moment” for Europe and Ukraine.

The meeting came less than a week after Zelenskyy’s bitter public row with Trump and his vice president JD Vance in the Oval Office. Washington cut off military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine over the following days.  

The Ukrainian made an oblique reference to the fact by thanking the EU for supporting his country “during all this period … and the last week, you stayed with us”.

Capping a positive day for Zelenskyy, it was also confirmed tonight that the US would kickstart talks with Kyiv to secure a ceasefire next week. 

US envoy Steve Witkoff said he planned to travel to Saudi Arabia to speak to Ukrainian negotiators about an “initial ceasefire” and a “framework” for a longer agreement.

Ukrainian and American negotiators, said Zelenskyy, had “resumed work”.

“We hope that next week we will have a meaningful meeting.”

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