President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is set to debut her toolkit for boosting EU defense spending. But the other big item on the agenda for the European Council summit — a huge new infusion of aid for Ukraine — is in doubt.
Axar.az reports citing Politico.
According to publication, the EU is unlikely to step up in a significant new way to fill the void left by the U.S. as European leaders gather on Thursday. However, Hungary is likely to take the blame for putting the €20 billion surge to Kyiv on hold. While Budapest may be more supportive of the EU’s broader defense ramp-up, it strongly opposes the Ukraine package.
An explicit reference to fresh delivery of military funding proposed by foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has been cut from the latest draft of the Council conclusions, set to be vetted today by EU ambassadors. The change comes after Budapest vetoed the previous version when those ambassadors last met.