According to its conclusions, the EU summit calls on the Council to continue working on the proposals of the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) was skeptical before the council meeting.
Borrell proposed on Wednesday that the EU use 90 percent of the interest profits on frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine through the European Peace Facility. Ten percent should go to rebuilding Ukraine and strengthening the capabilities of the Ukrainian defense industry. Ukraine is also set to benefit from an EU defense strategy that proposes, among other things, more joint military purchases.
In his video address to EU leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded that “the aggressor should pay the highest price for the war.” It is “only fair if both the profits from Russian assets and the assets themselves” serve to support and rebuild Ukraine and “in part to purchase weapons to end terror.”
