The announcement seemed clear: on the occasion of the summit which brought together European Heads of State and Government on 10 and 11 March in Versailles, the High Representative, Josep Borrell, announced that he had “made a proposal to double the contribution [de l’Union européenne] with 500 million euros more for armaments in support of the Ukrainian army”. The head of diplomacy said to himself « certain » that the leaders were going to support this proposal. “Everyone is fully aware that we need to increase our military support for Ukraine”, he said. And the President of the Council, Charles Michel, quoted the same figure, as if the agreement had been reaped.
However, the final press release did not mention this very important point and two leaders, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, affirmed that the subject had not been raised during the discussions. “The High Representative for Foreign Affairs has announced that he wishes to continue on this path. It was not part of our deliberations, nor our decisions., commented Olaf Scholz. ” There has been no formal decision.moderated the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic.
chaotic process
Mr. Borrell had therefore clearly advanced and, if the European leaders had indeed agreed to release a first tranche of 500 million euros, of which 450 were to finance the delivery of lethal weapons to kyiv, they did not had, on the other hand, not been informed of its desire to go beyond this amount. Some very moderately appreciated learning about this project through the press.
Josep Borrell wanted a European Council of Ministers to validate his proposal on Sunday March 13, the day after the Versailles meeting, which the Twenty-Seven refused to do. “Of the first tranche of 500 million that we have already released for Ukraine, only 200 million have been consumed so far. So there was no rush.”, argues a diplomat. Before adding: “Of course, if Ukraine needs more, we will follow without hesitation. »
Asked about this somewhat chaotic process, Mr. Borrell’s services assured at the beginning of the week that the discussions “were taking their course”, thus confirming that no decision had been ratified. The debates actually began on Thursday 17 March between the ambassadors responsible for foreign policy and security and it is not impossible that they will end before the next European Council on 24 and 25 March.
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