For Emmanuel Macron the European Council was a success. “We now have a strategy to fully re -enter Europe, rebalance us, fully find our independence in the five years to come,” wrote the French president in a message published on X on the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels.
Yesterday the European Council went on until late at night, allowing the leaders of the twenty -seven to conclude the discussions on the different themes in a single day, and no longer necessarily two, confirming the new style of President Antonio Costa, who wants to shorten the times of these meetings making them much more operational.
On veut protéger la paix. pic.twitter.com/weac2vg9f8
– Emmanuel Macron (@EMMANUELMACRON) March 21, 2025
The plan for rearmament
The heads of state and government have discussed the Rearm Europe plan, or rather “READINESS 2030”, as has now been renamed, of the European Commission, which aims to mobilize up to 800 billion for the purchase of weapons and which invites member countries to share resources for common military projects and to buy more European weapons.
The change of the name is a concession to countries like Italy by Giorgia Meloni, who for some time asked to review the name, considered too bellbit. In this battle the Italian Premier found an unusual ally in the Spanish Premier Pedro Sánchez.
Conversion of factories for weapons and drones: thousands of jobs in the plan for the EU rearmament
“I don’t like the term ‘rearma’. I think the EU is a political project of Soft Power. Today we also have the duty of Hard Power. But it is essential to highlight our strengths in the field of Soft Power. This is my objection of principle at the end of the ‘rearmament’,” said the socialist on the sidelines of the meeting. Names aside, the discussions on the substance, however, continue.
“I think Europe has never moved as quickly as in recent weeks,” Macron claimed, according to which “Europe was a community built to avoid war, then a single market. He had never built the tools to become a real power. Now we are doing it. We are doing it in real time and we are doing it quickly”.
The different positions
Some leaders, such as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, urged Brussels to go further in financing defense expenditure and considering the possibility of granting member states subsidies and not only loans. Even the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed the preference for “truly common European tools that do not gradually seriously on the debt of states”. Others, however, such as Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, said they were still very contrary to common bonds, the so -called Eurobonds.
And the latter is the line that seems to have passed to the meeting, given that the reference to “explore further measures” for defense financing, which was instead asked for in the conclusions of the European Council of 6 March, has disappeared from the conclusions.
The coalition of the willing
Macron has also announced a new summit of the coalition of the willing on Ukraine, scheduled for next Thursday in Paris, in which “we will finalize our works to support the Ukrainian army and defend a lasting and sustainable army model to prevent Russian invasions”, he explained.
The meeting, to which the Ukrainian President Volodymy Zlensky is also expected, follows “that of the chiefs of staff of the armies last week in Paris and that of the vice-operating chips” held in London yesterday (Thursday 20 March). Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have tried to put together this coalition of countries that support Ukraine since the United States President Donald Trump last month started direct interviews with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in an attempt to end three years of war.
“We have worked a lot with the British on the conditions to frame the ceasefire, so I think this will be an opportunity to discuss and clarify it,” said the French president. “The next goal is to specify the different levels of support for Ukraine after peace, support for the Ukrainian army and its possible deployment,” he added.
