The heads of state and government of the EU countries, the UK Prime Minister and the NATO Secretary General will participate in a joint meeting in Brussels today on defense issues, BTA reported.
The meeting is informal and was convened by European Council President António Costa.
The meeting documents note that Europe must take greater responsibility for its own defense against the backdrop of Russia's war against Ukraine, hybrid threats and cyberattacks, and the situation in the Middle East. It is planned to discuss the EU's relations with the US after the re-election of President Donald Trump.
The participants will talk about financing European defense, including with private funds. No conclusions are expected, but it is noted that discussions on these issues will continue in the coming months.
In the last few years, EU defense spending has increased significantly, reaching 326 billion euros last year (a 30 percent increase compared to 2021), and investments in 2023 were 72 billion euros, the documents state. The EU budget until 2027 More than 16 billion euros are earmarked for defense, half of which is earmarked for research and joint public procurement.
In his invitation to the meeting, Costa noted that Europe must increase defense spending and move toward better cooperation to lower the price of military equipment, close the arms gap, and replenish stocks depleted by aid to Kiev.
The upcoming meeting is the first opportunity for EU leaders to discuss cooperation with the United States since Trump returned to power and the first to feature a representative from London since Britain left the EU five years ago. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place at a mansion near Liege, but it was decided that the leaders would meet at the Egmont Castle in Brussels for convenience. However, media access to the leaders will be severely restricted and only a small number of journalists will be allowed to the venue.
The EU's top diplomat, Kaia Kallas, condemned the "brutal repression" of the protests in Georgia, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
She made these criticisms after Georgian authorities detained opposition leaders during a pro-European demonstration in Tbilisi earlier today.
"The brutal repression against peaceful protesters, journalists and politicians tonight in Tbilisi is unacceptable", Kallas wrote in „Ex“.