Security of Ukraine and Europe cannot be separated, - Costa
The security of Ukraine and the security of Europe cannot be separated, and the main guarantee of security is to strengthen Ukraine's ability to defend itself.
According to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform, the President of the European Council Antonio Costa made this statement on Tuesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
"The efforts we are making to spend more money on European defense will benefit Ukraine as well. The security of Ukraine and the security of Europe cannot be separated. The main guarantee of security we can provide is to strengthen Ukraine's ability to defend itself and build a reliable defense in Europe," Costa emphasized.
He also reminded that last week the Council was instructed to quickly develop new initiatives aimed at meeting urgent needs in the military and defense sectors.
"At the same time, we are ready to support Ukraine when it decides to start negotiations to achieve a lasting, just peace. We call on our partners to do the same," said the President of the European Council.
The statistics cited by Costa show that Europe is building up its defense capabilities, but in the current geopolitical context, it is necessary to move forward much faster.
According to him, over the past three years, EU member states have increased their defense spending by 30%: "Over the past three years, on average, among the 23 member states of the European Union that are members of NATO, we have reached the NATO target for 2024 of 2% of GDP. But now we are going much further. In one month, working hand in hand with the European Commission, we have quickly launched Europe of Defense."
Mr. Costa noted that the European Defense Agency has drawn up a list of priority areas for joint funding, taking into account the lessons of the war in Ukraine and in full coordination with NATO.
"Air and missile defense, artillery systems, missiles and ammunition, drones and anti-drone systems, strategic assets, military mobility, artificial intelligence, cyber and electronic warfare. We have also decided to mobilize more public and private funds and welcome the Commission's initiative to allocate €150 billion in additional defense spending to finance the capabilities we urgently need," he said.
In addition, according to Costa, next week the Commission and the EU High Representative for Security and Defense will present a White Paper on defense, and the European Council will take further decisions on competitiveness and strategic European autonomy.
