(Reuters) – Europe needs to strengthen its defense capabilities and switch to a “war economy” mode in response to the threat from Russia, European Council President Charles Michel said on Monday.
In an article published in European newspapers and on the Euractiv website, Michel — who will chair a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday to discuss support for Ukraine — said Europe needed to take responsibility for its own security and not rely too heavily on support from countries like the United States.
“If we don’t get the EU response right and give Ukraine enough support to stop Russia, we are next. So we need to be ready to defend ourselves and switch to a ‘war economy’ mode,” said Michel.
“If we want peace, we need to prepare for war,” he said.
Michel said that although Europe has made progress since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — including by increasing military production capacity by 50% — much more is needed and that for decades Europe has not invested enough in its security and defense.
Michel called on EU countries to ensure that Ukraine gets what it needs for the battlefield — including by spending bloc money on military equipment and using profits from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine.
EU countries approved a deal on Monday to increase the bloc’s support for Ukraine’s armed forces by 5 billion euros — amid warnings that Kiev’s forces need more resources to hold the line against Russia’s larger army, while a 60 billion dollar US aid package for Ukraine is held up in the US Congress.