#EUFridays by JEF Hungary #18
Richard Benussi
Mar-25-2022
NATO leaders meet in Brussels to increase their efforts against Russia
Heads of States and Governments of the NATO allies met on the 24th of March for an extraordinary NATO Summit at the headquarters in Brussels to discuss what additional action must be taken in order to deal with Russian acts of aggression in Ukraine.
Recent reports have shown that there might be evidence that Russia will decide to escalate the war by using chemical and biological weapons against Ukraine, which have led the NATO allies to decide to give Ukraine additional equipment in order to protect itself from these attacks. The reasoning behind this aid, is that should Russia decide to increase the severity of their attacks by using chemical and biological weapons, NATO members that border Ukraine might be directly impacted thus changing NATO’s involvement in this war. NATO Secretary General, Jens Soltenberg, stated to the press that NATO would increase its support to Ukraine by giving it significant military supplies.
Although NATO has steadily increased its support to Ukraine in the past few weeks, Ukrainian President Zelensky is still calling on the member states to increase their support. His latest request is that NATO donates 1% of all its arms to Ukraine in order for it to protect its country against the Russian Army.
The European Union decides to give more aid in order to help Ukrainian refugees
As a result of the unprecedent crisis that the EU is currently facing with having to house an estimated 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees that have fled their country as a result of the Russian invasion, the EU has decided to give €3.4 Billion in recovery funds to the member states that are currently hosting these refugees. According to the Commission, “The money will fund investments in housing, education, health, employment and childcare as Europe deals with its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.”
Ever since the war broke out a month ago, Ukrainian refugees have poured into Europe seeking safety from the Russian army. This has caused a tremendous amount of strain on many member states as they do not possess the capacity or the resources to host the large amount of people entering every day. The EU is not only helping with financial aid, but it has also decided to fast track Ukrainians’ application for permanent residency and finding work or schools for them.
Biden Attends EUCO Summit in Brussels
After already meeting allies at the NATO and G7 Summits in Brussels, Biden becomes the first sitting US President to be officially invited to attend a EUCO Summit physically. This action comes as a result of the EU-US Transatlantic relations improving after a rocky four years under previous US President Donald Trump. Biden has made it his goal to restore EU-US relations by actively engaging with their European Allies.
This rare invitation comes as result of further action being taken by the US and EU in order to act decisively and in uniform against Russia in wake of the war in Ukraine. Although not all member states are on the same page in regard to what level of sanctions should be placed, they agree that this act of aggression cannot go unpunished. Biden’s invitation to this summit is important for EU-US relations as other heads of state such as the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were not invited even though they were already in Brussels for the NATO and G7 summit.
President Biden will discuss matters of security, foreign policy and energy with his EU allies as they attempt to try and come to a consensus of how to move away from dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Picture link (https://idsb.tmgrup.com.tr/ly/up