The EU is working to become a “military powerhouse”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a closed-door meeting in the European Parliament on Wednesday.
“We know that we need to be strong and strength means. We are not a military powerhouse, but we are building up to be a military powerhouse,” she told lawmakers from her own centre-right European People’s Party grouping.
“But we are an economic powerhouse … we have to improve our performance over and over and over, it’s like a business, that it stays an economic powerhouse,” she said, according to several sources in the room.
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The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled a €90 billion loan to Ukraine aimed at saving it from financial collapse as it continues to battle Russia while aid from the U.S. dries up.
ReplyDeleteAbout one-third of the cash will be used for normal budget expenditures and the rest will go to defense — although countries still need to formally agree to what extent Ukraine can use the money to buy weapons from outside the EU. A Commission proposal gives EU defense firms preferential treatment but allows Ukraine to buy foreign weapons if they aren't immediately available in Europe.