The leaders of the 27 nation bloc will be joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however the show of solidarity will not be unanimous, with Hungary refusing to endorse a statement backing the Ukrainians.
Zelenskyy also plans to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever while in Brussels, his spokesman said.
The meeting follows the United States’ decision to suspend military aid to Kyiv, and amid signals of a broader shift by Washington away from military support in the region.
Trump says he is committed to the NATO alliance, but has been robust in his insistence that Europe must take more responsibility for its own security.
“I want to believe that the United States will stand by us. But we have to be ready if that is not the case,” French President Emmanuel Macron said of the war in Ukraine in an address to the nation on Wednesday night.
On Tuesday, the parties likely to form Germany’s next government agreed to loosen borrowing limits to allow billions of euros of extra defense spending.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also unveiled proposals to mobilize up to 800 billion euros ($862.9 billion) for the union’s defense, including a plan to borrow up to 150 billion euros ($161.8 billion) to lend to member state governments.
On Ukraine, almost all EU leaders are keen to reassure Zelenskyy that he can still rely on Europe for support but have so far not been able to agree on a proposal by foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to put a figure on the military aid they will pledge this year.
The plan foresees each state contributing according to the size of its economy, amid complaints from Nordic and Baltic states and the Netherlands that some bigger countries such as France, Italy and Spain are not doing enough.
However, Paris, Rome, and Madrid reject those accusations.
It is unclear whether support for Ukraine will be endorsed by all leaders, due to a veto threat from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
In a letter to European Council President and summit host Antonio Costa dated Saturday, Orban said there were “strategic differences in our approach to Ukraine that cannot be bridged.”
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has also rejected military aid to Ukraine, repeating that he wanted a mention of reopening Russian gas transit through Ukraine which Kyiv stopped this year as part of summit discussions.
“If that is there we have no reason, of course, to block conclusions,” Fico said before heading to the Belgian capital.
Friedrich Merz, likely the next chancellor of Germany, was conferring with Costa over breakfast on how to meet the challenge on a short deadline only days after he and his prospective coalition partners pushed plans to loosen the nation’s rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending.
“Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime. Some of our fundamental assumptions are being undermined to their very core,” von der Leyen warned in a letter to the EU’s 27 leaders ahead of the meeting.
Another EU summit is set for March 20-21.
