The EU foreign policy chief has declared that “the free world needs a new leader”, as European leaders threw their support behind Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the stunning White House confrontation between him and Donald Trump.
Leaders from across Europe expressed their solidarity with the Ukrainian leader after the fractious exchange with JD Vance, the US vice-president, and Trump, who claimed he was not “ready for peace” and accused him of “gambling with world war three”.
Although in general, the European leaders did not name the US president, their comments late on Friday laid bare the gaping rift between the US and its traditional allies in Europe over the war in Ukraine.
In a social media post, Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, wrote: “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine. We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor.
“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”
I really hope that Europe finally decides to materially support Ukraine.
For the duration of the invasion Europe has flatly refused to make long term contracts for the order of artillery shells. They are more than willing to send what extra they have but they have not committed to the massive increase in manufacturing that is required for Ukraine to win . I was shocked when Germany announced massive automotive layoffs without government intervention to switch to war production for Ukraine.
So many of Europes challenges are related to the invasion of Ukraine yet they are not acting as if they are actively engaged in war or like they will be soon.
I have been absolutely puzzled for years why there hasn’t been a rush to create defense production capacity in a meaningful way. They only conclusion I came to is that Europe except -Poland-, isn’t really concerned about the outcome of the Russian invasion.
Poland is acting like this is a big deal.
Every other major nation seems to be waiting until they can get back to business as usual. Let’s see if this shocks them into actions they needed to take years ago.
The contracts need to be written, so the buildings can be built, so the machines can be put into them, so the workers can be hired , so the production can begin. It takes years.