German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated today that greater military support is needed from each Member State of the European Union (EU) to Ukraine, which is why he urged the other 26 partners to increase their efforts this year.
“The arms shipments to Ukraine planned so far by the majority of EU member states are, in any case, too small,” he said at a press conference after meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden.
“Therefore, I ask our allies in the European Union to also increase their efforts for Ukraine,” he added. Germany will invest 8 billion euros in military aid in 2024, double that of the previous year, he recalled.
Scholz was once again confident that the EU will finally reach an agreement with the Twenty-seven on the 50 billion in aid to Ukraine’s state budget for the coming years, but he said that, simultaneously, military aid must also be important.
“In parallel, there continues to be a need for arms aid from individual states to be guaranteed and large enough,” he stressed.
“Again, what we currently know is not big enough. We need larger contributions. Maybe all the plans are already adopted, but we don’t know them,” Scholz added.
For this reason, Germany has asked Brussels to ask member countries about their military aid plans for Ukraine, he explained. Berlin hopes that at the latest at the community summit in February there will be a precise snapshot of the contributions of the European partners this year.
The Luxembourg Prime Minister agreed with Scholz that each EU Member State must contribute to the purpose of safeguarding the rule of law, territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Ukraine, but asked to take into account the assistance as a whole, not only the military.
It is military aid, yes, but also direct financial aid, humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees, he explained.
Aid must be given “within the possibilities” of each member country and be “proportional” to the state and defense budget, he stated. Luxembourg allocates 16% of its defense budget to Ukraine, she said.
“For us and all Europeans, Ukraine and its future is important, because (the Russian invasion) challenges fundamental principles. We cannot leave Ukraine alone,” Frieden stressed.