EU leaders to hold defence summit in Paris

EU leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday for a special council on defence, as Frances President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was at a "turning point of history".

As well as rearmament, leaders are expected to discuss how the body can further support Kyiv in the face of US President Donald Trumps announcement on Monday that he would suspend military aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is invited to the summit.

Nerves have grown increasingly frayed across Europe since Trump and Zelenskys showdown at the White House last week, and the rhetoric around Thursdays summit leaves no doubt about the importance EU officials are ascribing to it.

Three years on since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administrations overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin have left many in Europe concerned the continent would not be able to rely on US support for its security.

Washingtons decision on Wednesday to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine did nothing to allay those worries.

In a sign of the depth of concern, President Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners, during an address to the nation on Wednesday.

That followed a call from Friedrich Merz, likely to be Germanys next chancellor, to discuss increased nuclear sharing.

Europe was facing a "clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime", European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, while European Council President António Costa said this was a "defining moment for Ukraine and European security".

In a letter to European leaders, von der Leyen also said the continent had to "meet the moment" and "unleash our industrial and productive power and direct it to the goal of security".

On Monday, von der Leyen announced an unprecedented defence package - dubbed ReArm Europe - and said that Europe was ready to "massively" boost its defence spending "with the speed and the ambition that is needed".

Von der Leyen said the three proposals outlined in the ReArm Europe plan would both support Ukraine and "address the long-term need to take much more responsibility" for European security - probably referring to the fact many Europeans feel the continent can no longer automatically rely on the US to come to its aid.

The proposals include:

The European Investment Bank would also be allowed to finance military projects.

According to von der Leyen, the plan could free up a total of €800bn ($860bn; £670bn) in defence expenditure.

Many European leaders have signalled their support for swift, decisive action in regards to the continents security.

Donald Tusk, Polands prime minister, said the Commissions plan represented "a fundamental shift", while Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the summit would give Europe the opportunity to show "whether its just a debate club or whether we can make decisions".

But dissent from certain European leaders sympathetic to Moscow is expected.

Earlier this week, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said the EUs "peace through strength" approach was "unrealistic".

And in a letter to Costa, Hungarys Viktor Orban demanded that Ukraine not be mentioned in any written conclusions following the summit.

Orban - who has repeatedly attempted to block EU aid to Ukraine and has praised Trump for "standing bravely for peace" - said there was now a "strategic divide... between the majority of Europe and the USA".

"One side insists on prolonging the war in Ukraine, while the other seeks an end to the conflict," he added.

Yet Orban left the door open for a "greater probability for co-operation" with other leaders over issues of common security and defence.

While Thursdays crisis summit is taking place in Brussels, UK Defence Secretary John Healey will be in Washington for discussions with his counterpart Pete Hegseth on the US decision to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Their bilateral meeting will focus on a possible peace plan while efforts continue to bridge a transatlantic rift over Kyivs future security.

Perhaps in a final bid to try and achieve unity ahead of the summit, Macron - who has positioned himself at the centre of the EUs efforts to bridge the gap between Kyiv and Washington - invited Orban to have dinner in Paris on Wednesday evening.

The two leaders met immediately after the French president gave a sombre address to the nation in which he said that France and Europe needed to be ready if the US was no longer by their side.

"We have to be united and determined to protect ourselves," Macron said. He added that the future of Europe could not be tied to Washington or Moscow, and said that while he "wanted to believe that the US will stay by our side, we have to be ready for this not to be the case".

The French president plans to hold a meeting of European army chiefs in Paris next week.

Macron said that "decisive steps" would be taken in Brussels, leaving European countries "more ready to defend and protect themselves".

"The moment calls for unprecedented decisions," he concluded.