German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to put extra pressure on EU partners to supply Ukraine with more weapons, raising the issue at a special summit of EU leaders next month.
Politicos will meet in Brussels on February 1, where they plan to approve a package of financial assistance to Kyiv worth 50 billion euros. Scholz intends to use the occasion to hold further debate on military support for Ukraine that some EU countries are planning this year, a German official told POLITICO on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, the chancellor issued an extremely blunt warning that "the arms supplies to Ukraine planned so far by most EU member states are certainly too small," adding, "I therefore call on our allies in the European Union to take action as well," to step up their efforts to support Ukraine... We need more contributions."
Scholz also said he had asked the EU to list all the military aid member states planned for this year "no later than" before the Feb. 1 summit.
Berlin's plan to discuss the list's findings with leaders is likely to increase pressure on countries such as France, Italy and Spain, which have so far donated relatively few military goods to Kiev, at least according to publicly available information.
According to the Kiel Institute, which counted military aid to Ukraine in public access, Germany was the second largest donor last year after the US with 17.1 billion euros; it was followed by Great Britain with 6.6 billion euros, as well as the Nordic and Eastern countries of the EU. France, by comparison, contributed just €0.54 billion, Italy €0.69 billion and Spain €0.34 billion.
