Can the EU do more to support Ukraine?
Before flying off to the US where he met President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the war in Ukraine would be a key issue. "The question now is how Europe, but also the US, can consolidate support for Ukraine," he said, adding that there was currently not enough help coming from the US and Europe.
The EU recently approved a €50-billion (ca. $54 billion) support package for Ukraine, in an attempt to send a signal to the US. European Council President Charles Michel said afterwards the deal showed that the EU was "taking leadership and responsibility in support for Ukraine," as it knew what "is at stake."
For his part, Biden has spent months trying to get a military aid package for Ukraine past Congress. On Wednesday, the Senate failed to pass a vote approving $60 billion in wartime aid to Ukraine. Even if the package eventually passes, it's unclear when the aid would be released. There has been concern in Europe for some time that the US could eventually cease providing support to Ukraine altogether.
EU support mainly for civilian purposes
The EU aid package, which Hungary blocked for months, is intended to help Ukraine through the period from 2024 to 2027, in the form of grants and loans. But as Bruno Lete, a visiting professor for trans-Atlantic relations at the College of Europe in Bruges, pointed out, it's primarily earmarked for civilian purposes, such as paying the salaries of teachers or administrators.
Even though EU states are catching up in terms of pledged military aid, the US remains the largest donor, having provided the equivalent of €44 billion according to figures from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy on December 7. Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said at the end of January that the EU and its member states had so far provided a total of €28 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
Aid from the US was vital for Ukraine, Lete told DW. Camille Grand of the European Council on Foreign Relations also said that less aid from the US could become a problem for the EU. Grand, a former assistant secretary general for defense investment at NATO, said that though Europe had caught up in terms of military aid, it was still unable to provide the same level of support as the US.
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