BRUSSELS, March 21. /TASS/. Participants of the EU summit held in Brussels supported the White Paper on the European Union defense proposed by the European Commission (EC) and called for accelerating work in this area over the next five years, according to a statement following the meeting.
"In the light of the White Paper on the Future of European Defense of 19 March 2025, the European Council calls for an acceleration of work on all strands to decisively ramp up Europe’s defense readiness within the next five years," the statement says.
The meeting participants instructed the European Commission and the EU Council to begin implementing the European Commission's proposals in practice. However, the EU leaders did not mention the financial parameters of this plan in their statement, noting that the European Commission "invites the Council and the co-legislators to swiftly take work forward on the recent Commission proposals"
The document stresses that the EU intends to strengthen its security, complementing NATO's capabilities, and will not compete with the alliance in the defense sphere. It also contains a clause stating that all European defense efforts should consider "the specific character of the security and defense policy of certain Member States."
The European Commission proposed finding 650 bln euros for military investments over the next four years by cutting budget expenditures and attracting new government loans. The EC intends to attract another 150 billion euros through a common European loan - the placement of Eurobonds. The European Commission also intends to transfer the European Investment Bank to financing military projects and allow EU countries to use the funds due to them from the EU fund for the development of depressed regions, which makes up almost a fifth of the EU budget, for military needs.