EU and UK working on a joint fund for the continent’s defence

Brussels – Faced with the risk that the stars-and-stripes blanket on Europe will become too short, the European Union and the United Kingdom are putting the frictions of yesteryear behind them and devising a plan to defend the old continent jointly. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced today (Feb. 25) at a meeting in Warsaw with European Council President António Costa that, before the extraordinary European summit on March 6, “a group of EU leaders will be on Sunday (March 2, ed) in London to talk about joint plans regarding defence.”

The visit of a select group of EU heads of state and government to the British capital confirms the disclosures published this morning by the Financial Times that finance ministers from some EU countries and the UK will discuss a pan-European common fund to finance an increase in military spending as early as on the sidelines of a meeting scheduled this week as part of the G20 in Cape Town. According to the British newspaper, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reportedly instructed Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, to draft an ad hoc proposal to the leadership of the European institutions.

The finance minister of Poland—which holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council—has also reportedly revealed to the Financial Times the existence of the project: “It could be a fund or a bank,” said Andrzej Domanski, a kind of European “rearmament bank” also extended to London.

Initiatives are multiplying ahead of the extraordinary summit on Ukraine and Europe’s security on March 6, the day when the EU is called upon to give decisive answers to the acceleration of events imposed by Donald Trump, who threatens to close the U.S. protective umbrella over the EU and winks at Vladimir Putin over peace in Ukraine. The talks at the Elysée Palace—at which Starmer was also present—Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the White House, and the videoconference among European leaders convened by Antonio Costa for tomorrow are precisely to get an account of the face-to-face meeting between Trump and the French president.

“Now is the time for action, for decisions, for results. The European Commission is about to present a package of proposals to strengthen European defence capabilities,” António Costa said on the sidelines of his meeting with Tusk in Warsaw. Indeed, yesterday the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in Kyiv that on March 6, she will present “a comprehensive plan on how to increase our European arms production and defence capabilities.”

Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, 24/02/25 (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Regardless of action plans and figures that will be unveiled on March 6, Tusk, the premier of a country that already devotes more than 4 per cent of its GDP to military spending, made it clear: “There is no doubt that we will try, at the next extraordinary European Council, not only to strengthen European unity but also to cooperate very closely on defence issues, on Ukraine and Russia, on the common security policy with Britain and Norway.”

The next European leader expected in the Oval Office is indeed Keir Starmer, who will leave for Washington tomorrow to meet with Trump and explore with him the possibility—on which Macron already gave his readiness yesterday—of deploying a European peacekeeping military contingent (there is talk of at least 30,000 troops), once the agreement to end the conflict is reached, as a security guarantee for Kyiv. The EU is rolling up its sleeves but is not resigned to warnings of U.S. disengagement: “All of us have the full conviction that, regardless of the difficulties and circumstances, Europe is interested in strengthening cooperation with the United States in the context of our common security,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk highlighted again.