The EU's increased defence spending priorities must not come at the expense of development aid, as this could risk isolating the continent geopolitically, the Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen warned in an interview.
Europe should have a containment strategy towards Russia, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský told Euractiv as his country prepares to host NATO foreign ministers on Thursday (30 May) to work on a new kind of support package for Ukraine.
Kyiv is looking for European Union funds to boost support for its domestic arms industry and tap into additional non-contracted capacities, Ukraine's Minister of Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, told Euractiv. "[Our] objective is to find more funds to procure from Ukrainian …
The West should aim to create more "strategic difficulties" in a bid to reign in Russia's behaviour, with the first priority being to "stop the aggression against Ukraine", an area where NATO is not doing enough, Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström told Euractiv.
The EU's Satellite Centre (SatCen), responsible for analysing satellite images from crisis zones, is stretched for resources and cannot meet all the requests unless EU countries redefine its priorities and provide it with new technologies, its director, Sorin Ducaru, told Euractiv.
A defeat of Ukraine would put European values at risk, which is why there is no alternative but for Europe's support to continue, European Council President Charles Michel told a group of media, including Euractiv, in an interview.
Sweden is ready to talk with Hungary, which is still holding Stockholm's NATO accession, but its membership of the alliance is "not a matter of negotiation", Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson told Euractiv.
Europeans should focus on ramping up military capabilities and supporting Ukraine instead of worrying about who will be the next US president, outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a top contender to be the next NATO chief, told Euractiv.
Europe’s commitment to bolster its defence industry will not become autonomy overnight, but it is necessary to start now, Belgium’s Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder told Euractiv, as pressure mounts for the ‘old continent’ to step up its security.
The European Investment Bank is open to financing defence industries but is still reluctant to go beyond dual-use technology, a top EIB official told Euractiv, warning also that the idea of using eurobonds to finance military industry must be carefully weighed as they may not attract investors.
The EU should invest upfront into the bloc's defence industry production capacity as a means to de-risk their investments, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton told a group of international media, including Euractiv, on Thursday (11 January).
The EU should use its common budget as an incentive to make member states commit more capabilities and personnel to the bloc's future crisis response force, the EU's top general, Robert Brieger, told Euractiv.
Failure to give Ukraine the support it needs to defend itself against the Russian invasion will have a higher cost for everyone, including European countries, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrelius Landsbergis told EURACTIV.
Lithuania's president urged NATO leaders to be bolder in addressing Ukraine's push for membership at a summit in his country next week, saying this would boost Kyiv's battlefield performance while Moscow would see any caution as weakness.
While the EU accession process of Ukraine and Moldova is underway, it must follow a planned process and come with necessary reforms, Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, French National Assembly's European Affairs Committee chairman, told EURACTIV France.
The EU has nearly exhausted its options for punitive measures against Russia and the bloc’s attention needs to shift to financial and military support for Ukraine, the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.
Once the EUs new space-based secure communication system is operational, it could be offered to help third countries like Ukraine and reduce their dependence on a single provider, Ekaterini Kavvada, the director of development and innovation at the Commission's DG DEFIS, told EURACTIV.
NATO's new strategy is not about the alliance shifting its attention toward the Indo-Pacific, but instead that there is a need to acknowledge and address China's increased strategic influence in Europe, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian …
There is no point in talking to Vladimir Putin if we really want him to understand he is isolated, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told EURACTIV in what can be seen as a thinly veiled criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron's largely unsuccessful phone diplomacy with Moscow.
In an interview with EURACTIV, Finnish Green MEP Alviina Alametsä said that a majority in parliament and the public in her country are now in favour of NATO membership, for which it hopes to have “some signals and symbols of support during a possible membership application”.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić knows that “Russia has become completely useless for Serbia”, but he will keep up his pro-Putin rhetoric to please his electorate in the run-up to the elections on 3 April, says Orhan Dragaš, a security expert in Belgrade.
In a wide-ranging interview, the Russian ambassador to the EU discussed his country’s military operation in Ukraine, plans to return to negotiations under another government in Kyiv, sending to court Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the effect of Western sanctions and more.
The big powers, including Moscow, cannot decide about the smaller ones, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told EURACTIV's partner efe in an interview in the midst of a crisis triggered by Russian forces amassing near Ukraine and Moscow's demands that no Eastern European countries join the Alliance.
NATO membership in the near future is not possible for Georgia and Ukraine, and the alternative - arming Ukraine - is a tricky issue, ECFR expert Kadri Liik told EURACTIV in an interview.
