The Twenty-Seven say they are ready to make a long-term commitment to Ukraine’s security

2023-06-30 00:15:22
From left to right, European Council President Charles Michel, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, Slovak Prime Minister Ludovit Odor, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and the First Estonian Minister Kaja Kallas during a round table at the EU summit in Brussels, June 29, 2023. GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT / AP

Gathered in Brussels, the European Heads of State and Government insisted on Thursday, June 29, that their support for kyiv is a long-term one. Without giving further details, they referred to “security commitments that will help Ukraine defend itself in the long term, deter acts of aggression and resist destabilization efforts”.

Security commitments? This is a still vague concept that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, mentioned in his speech in Bratislava on May 31 and that he had his European partners endorse. It’s necessary “agree on how we will continue to organize our support for Ukraine together”underlines Olaf Scholz. “We have to be prepared for this to last a long time”adds the German Chancellor.

“The challenge is to give all the necessary means to Ukraine – training of the military, weapons – to lead its counter-offensive and help it in the long term”, explains the Elysée. This is all the more necessary since the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has been “weakened” by the rebellion of the Wagner group which makes him “greater danger”argues the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.

While waiting for kyiv to see more clearly about its future within NATO, Mr. Macron considers it necessary to offer it prospects at community level. It is somewhat the same logic that saw him imagine the European Political Community (EPC) in May 2022 to offer a space for cooperation with the European Union (EU) in Kiev and the other countries of the Old Continent.

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Some cautious member states

This same debate has been going on for several months within NATO, where we are discussing the “security guarantees”, supposed to perpetuate, before and after the hostilities, the support of the allies in kyiv. It will be at the heart of the Atlantic Alliance summit, scheduled for Vilnius on July 11 and 12, and a few days before this meeting, the Twenty-Seven wanted to contribute their share. “The idea is to move forward on this subject in July, in particular by proposing a figure over several years to continue our military support for Ukraine. The EU should make a proposal quite quickly but it is not yet clear whether it will be before or after Vilnius”comments a senior European official.

Some Member States, in the name of their neutrality, did not want to hear talk of a “security commitment”. Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus have thus obtained from their European partners that it be specified, in the conclusions of the council, that “these commitments will be made in full respect of the security and defense policy of certain Member States and taking into account the security and defense interests of all Member States”.

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