EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget.
"The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday.
"This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote.
EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
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The Hill
22 minutes ago
- The Hill
Even Hillary Clinton admits Trump's foreign policy is working
Well, here's something you don't see every day. President Trump's foreign policy is getting high marks from an unusual grader — Hillary Clinton. Indeed, the former first lady, secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate is typically no fan of The Donald; she's called him an illegitimate president, a threat to our democracy, a Russian stooge, and every other smear in the book. But even Clinton admits Trump is doing a pretty good job strengthening the U.S. relationship with European allies while getting more out of them in terms of NATO defense and their financial contributions. Watch Clinton speaking with liberal Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov: 'I actually was encouraged by the events of the last several months,' said the former secretary of State. 'The NATO commitment by individual member states to increase their defense spending, it's something that prior administrations have certainly sought, and I think it's great that we're seeing these commitment they now have to follow through on.' Clinton continues: 'There is beginning to be a better understanding, both by the president and the people around him, as well as by the leaders of our European allies, that there can be common ground amongst us. The kind of dismissiveness of that we saw in the first Trump administration has been replaced by a much more obvious working relationship, to the good of European security, transatlantic security, and hopefully Ukrainian security.' That's high praise from a Democratic political figure who previously accused Trump of being totally beholden to Vladmir Putin and Russia, and of working to subvert the NATO alliance, and of being an isolationist — all notions that are explicitly disproven by Trump's diplomatic efforts to engage the West in the project of mediating peace between Russia and Ukraine. And, actually, it's not just Russia and Ukraine. Trump is working to achieve peace all over the globe — something that has attracted the notice of moderate liberal commentator Bill Maher. Let's watch: 'If you're the kind of person who can find some good in anybody, this would be the good in Donald Trump. He really does not like war. Thailand and Cambodia were firing at each other, Rwanda and the Congo — most people don't even know about these — India and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, he got involved in all of them.' All we are saying is give peace a chance! That's what I believe in, it's what Donald Trump seems to believe in, and it's what America First really means. War should be a last resort. Diplomacy can accomplish more than sanctions or airstrikes or, god forbid, boots on the grounds. Letting countries trade with each other and benefit from each other's resources is a surer way to get our allies and our enemies to serve our interests than twisting their arms with force. We don't need to ask the American people to send their hard-earned tax dollars overseas in some naive hope that it will make foreign peoples friendlier to us, nor should we bomb them into somehow loving America. Neither of those strategies — liberal interventionism and neoconservatism — work for us. What does work is libertarianism, or you can call it military noninterventionism, or foreign policy populism, or just call it America First. It's what the people want, and it's what they're currently getting, and even Hillary Clinton has to admit, it's sort of working.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Jaw-Dropping Ignorance Exposed During Putin Meet: Author
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Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
NATO defense chiefs hold ‘candid discussion' on security guarantees for Ukraine
BRUSSELS — NATO defense chiefs held a 'candid discussion' Wednesday about what security guarantees they could offer Kyiv to help forge a peace agreement that ends Russia's three-year war on Ukraine, a senior alliance official said. Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO's Military Committee, said that 32 defense chiefs from across the alliance held a video conference amid a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the fighting. He said there was a 'great, candid discussion' in the call. 'I thanked everyone for their always proactive participation in these meetings: we are united, and that unity was truly tangible today, as always,' he wrote on social platform X without providing further details. Assurances that it won't be invaded again in the future are one of the keys for getting Ukraine to sign up for a peace deal with Russia. It wants Western help for its military, including weapons and training, to shore up its defenses, and Western officials are scrambling to figure out what commitments they might offer. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chided efforts to work on security arrangements in Ukraine without Moscow's involvement. 'We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work,' Lavrov said Wednesday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Russia will 'ensure (its) legitimate interests firmly and harshly,' Lavrov added at a news conference in Moscow with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi. U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, took part in the virtual talks, Dragone said. U.S. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also due to participate, a U.S. defense official said. Caine also met with European military chiefs Tuesday evening in Washington to assess the best military options for political leaders, according to the defense official, who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. President Trump met last Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and on Monday hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and prominent European leaders at the White House. Neither meeting delivered concrete progress. Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelensky toward a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbor, but there are major obstacles. They include Ukraine's demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia won't mount another invasion in the coming years. 'We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace,' Zelensky said in a Telegram post Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight. Kyiv's European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, has signed up to support the initiative. Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the U.S. might play is unclear. Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending U.S. troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia. Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept NATO troops in Ukraine. Attacks on civilian areas in Sumy and Odesa overnight into Wednesday injured 15 people, including a family with three small children, Ukrainian authorities said. Russian strikes also targeted ports and fuel and energy infrastructure, officials said. Zelensky said the strikes 'only confirm the need for pressure on Moscow, the need to introduce new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works to its full potential.' Trump said Monday he has begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelensky, although the Kremlin hasn't publicly confirmed such a possibility and no venue was suggested. Lavrov, in his Moscow press conference, said Russia is prepared to continue negotiations with Ukraine in any format. He said Putin proposed to Trump raising the level of representation in delegations that recently took part in largely fruitless direct talks in Istanbul. He added that 'a separate block (of talks) should be devoted to examining the political aspects of the settlement, along with the military and humanitarian ones.' Ukraine and Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging out peace negotiations in the hope of capturing more land before any settlement. French President Emmanuel Macron has said the summit could happen in Europe and proposed the Swiss city of Geneva. Switzerland has expressed its willingness to act as host. Putin's ability to travel abroad is limited because he is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on a warrant dating back to March 2023 for alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children. More than 100 countries are ICC signatories and have a legal obligation to arrest the Russian leader on their soil. Switzerland intends to ask the ICC to exempt it from sanctions in order to allow Putin in for a summit, according to a senior official in The Hague with direct knowledge of the request. The official was not authorized to speak about the proceedings and spoke on condition of anonymity. McNeil and Novikov write for the Associated Press. Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Molly Quell contributed to this report from The Hague and Mike Pesoli from Washington.