Leaders from Britain and across the E.U. will meet in Brussels today to discuss how to pay for Europe’s defense — agood concern made more acute by President Trump’s return to the White House.
With war ongoing in Ukraine, the E.U., which was founded on free trade and termed itself a “peace project,” has become more committed to deterrence and defense. The U.S. is the largest military funder of Ukraine’s war effort, but Trump has suggested that he will rapidly withdraw support and leave the matter to the Europeans.
Europe’s relationship with Washington is also on the agenda. That includes how to cope with Mr. Trump’s demands, such as his desire to acquire Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
“This is critical for Europeans,” said Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, acting president of the German Marshall Fund, a think tank. “They don’t have a choice, because war is taking place on their own continent.”
At least 14 people were killed on Saturday in a Russian missile attack on the city of Poltava, Ukrainian officials said. Later, a bomb smashed into a boarding school, killing four people in Sudzha, a Russian town held by Ukraine.
