European security is “at a turning point,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after arriving in Paris for a meeting on Ukraine.
“I have just arrived in Paris for crucial talks. European security is at a turning point. Yes, it is about Ukraine, but it is also about us,” she wrote on X.
“We need a sense of urgency. We need a leap in our defences and we need both now,” she said.
European Council President Antonio Costa will also take part in an informal summit of European leaders at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.
It will be the start of a “process” in which the EU and its member states will “play a central role,” he wrote on X.
The heads of government of Germany, the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark will also be at the meeting in Paris today, as will NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Officials from some of the countries Macron did not invite to the meeting criticized him for dividing the European 27, saying it showed weakness.
The meeting of European leaders comes days after a phone call between US and Russian President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and their decision to discuss Ukraine directly at a summit in Saudi Arabia. Trump said yesterday that a meeting with Putin could take place soon.
In preparation for the meeting, a meeting of senior US and Russian officials is scheduled for tomorrow in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The delegations will be led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
