On Tuesday, the head of the European Union's executive proposed an 800 billion euro ($841 billion) plan to strengthen the defence of EU countries. The goal is to reduce reliance on the US, ensure Ukraine has enough military support to negotiate with Russia and address the impact of the recent freeze on US aid to Ukraine.

The massive REARM Europe package will be presented to the 27 EU leaders who will meet in Brussels on Thursday in an emergency meeting, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This comes after a week of growing political unrest in Washington, where President Donald Trump questioned both his alliance with the continent and his defence of Ukraine. “I do not need to describe the grave nature of the threats that we face," von der Leyen said. One major issue for EU nations is that they have spent very little on defence over the years, relying on U.S. nuclear protection instead. Additionally, their slow-growing economies make it difficult to increase defence spending.

Von der Leyen emphasised that the first step is to relax the EU's budget rules so that member countries can boost their defence spending without facing strict penalties for going over budget. “So if member states would increase their defence spending by 1.5 per cent of GDP on average, this could create fiscal space of close to 650 billion euros ($683 billion) over a period of four years,” von der Leyen said. A loan program worth 150 billion euros ($157 billion) will be added to help member states invest in defence. She mentioned that the military equipment requiring upgrades includes air and missile defense, artillery systems, missiles and ammunition, drones, anti-drone systems and cybersecurity measures.

A strategy like this would force several EU members to significantly raise their military budgets, which currently stand at less than 2% of GDP. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has instructed the member states to accelerate their transition to more than 3%. The plan will serve as the foundation for Thursday's summit, but apart from firm commitments, no immediate decisions are expected.