Europe must strengthen its defense capabilities and switch to a “war economy” mode against the threat posed by Russia, says o President of the European Council Charles Michel in his article published in European newspapers and on the Euractiv website.
Charles Michel, who will chair a summit of European Union leaders on Thursday on support for Ukraine, writes that Europe must take responsibility for its own security and not depend so much on the support of countries such as the United States.
“If we don’t give the right response as the European Union and we don’t give Ukraine enough help to stop Russia, we are next. Consequently, we must be defensively ready and move into war economy mode…If we want peace, we must prepare for war,” he writes.
According to Charles Michel, although Europe has made strides since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – among them increasing military production capacity by 50% – much more needs to be done, as for decades, Europe has not has invested heavily in its security and defense.
The president of the European Council is calling on EU countries to ensure that Ukraine gets what it needs on the battlefield – both by spending EU funds on military equipment and using returns on Russia’s frozen assets. for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.
Charles Michel is calling on countries to facilitate defense investment – and considering changing the mandate of the European Union’s lending arm, the European Investment Bank, to allow it to support Europe’s defense industry.
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