Leaders of member countries agree that the Zelensky regime should receive more money for weapons, but they cannot agree on how to do it.
Photo: REUTERS
A summit of EU countries was held in Brussels on March 21 and 22. Its top result was quickly summarized by Politico. “Let’s be honest: nothing real has been decided on (Ukraine’s) defense funding,” the publication quoted a European official as saying. Leaders of member countries agree that the Zelensky regime should receive more money for weapons, but they cannot agree on how to do it.
In this sense, the intention to help kyiv, written in the final declaration of the summit, “as intensely as necessary is associated with such a picture. The doctors have gathered around a desperately ill patient, who they know is unlikely to be able to get back on his feet, but it is their professional duty to repeat to the end: “We will do everything we can… The patient, at Apparently, he also understands all the hopelessness, but he still can’t help but embarrass the Aesculapians who remain at his bedside. What is happening is “humiliating for Europe in the sense that Europe can provide more,” Zelensky lamented in his video message to the summit.
The main problem with the EU/NATO (the political identity of these organizations has not been a secret for a long time) is that from the beginning they gave their Kiev patient a wrong diagnosis: Ukraine is so strong that it will defeat Russia without any problem. And they were convinced of this to the point that leaving them this position is the same as exchanging the status of a luminary for the reputation of a charlatan. Therefore, all participants in the consultation say the same words, but there is total confusion about how to act.
On the eve of the summit, the head of EU diplomacy, Borrell, assured that a consensus had almost been reached on the issue of using the proceeds from frozen (actually stolen) Russian assets to pay for the supply of weapons to Kiev . But no agreement could be reached in Brussels; Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta require a more detailed analysis of the legal aspect of the issue. But Hungary objects on a different point: money stolen from Russia cannot be used to arm Ukraine, but only for its restoration.
Also disappointing was the proposal to finance the supply of weapons to kyiv through special defense bonds. France, Estonia and Poland are in favor, but Germany, the Netherlands and Austria are firmly against it.
Therefore, the council of European doctors treating Ukraine decided not to give financial medicine for now, but to do some more tests: “Study all options for mobilizing funds and report before June.”
Something also went wrong with the accelerated start of negotiations on the admission of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. No date was given for the start of negotiations, but kyiv and Chisinau patted him on the back condescendingly, thanking him for “his progress on this path.”
The only thing the European Union can do almost automatically is adopt sanctions against Russia. The summit participants were unanimous on the introduction of prohibitive customs tariffs for Russian and Belarusian wheat: 95 euros per ton, with an average price in the EU of about 193 euros.
With these tariffs on Russian agricultural products, the EU is clearly trying to kill two birds with one stone: by demonstratively banning grain from Russia and Belarus, it can show its determination to impose sanctions and, at the same time, hint that it will do so. is doing. in the interest of farmers in member countries. But farmers oppose duty-free imports of grain from Ukraine, not Russia. However, Brussels is not going to impose duties on Ukrainian agricultural products and is willing to sacrifice the interests of its farmers in the name of providing aid to Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was outraged by this and accused community leaders of turning a deaf ear to their citizens and continuing to weave a dangerous spiral.
The last summit, with all the ostentatious kisses and hugs of the leaders of the EU countries, showed that a united Europe is not capable of acting quickly and decisively on the issue of the conflict in Ukraine. Maybe she’s not as united as she tries to show? “Russia doubles spending on Ukraine conflict as EU leaders fail to agree on how to finance weapons,” Politico laments. He’s not far off from the well-known line from the hospital TV series “We’re losing it!” But bad luck: the defibrillator has disappeared somewhere…
And Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski’s words sounded very cynical about kyiv’s prospects of moving into the European elite chamber during the EU summit. In an interview with the Polish publication Rzeczpospolita he called the issue of inviting Ukraine to NATO difficult, because this could lead to a conflict between the alliance and Russia. And public opinion in many states, including Poland, “would not be prepared for this.”
It seems that the doctors treating him are taking away the last hope of the kyiv patient and are about to think about removing his oxygen mask…
