The sweeping sanctions and rapid decision-making the EU has achieved since Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago have confounded critics accustomed to a glacial pace of progress in a bloc where conflicting national interests often hobble its ambitions.
But as EU leaders prepare to meet in Versailles for a summit aimed at capitalizing on the momentum, cracks are appearing over the prospects for deeper integration across multiple fronts — including funding the union’s economic response to the Ukraine crisis and shaping a common defense policy.
A draft EU declaration ahead of the summit on Thursday, seen by the Financial Times, vows to “take more responsibility for our security and take further decisive steps towards building our European sovereignty, reducing our dependencies and designing a new growth and investment model for 2030”.
“This is the ‘whatever it takes’ moment for Europe,” Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, told the FT. The goal must be to address the “fundamental gaps” in the EU that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has exploited, she added.
The main plank of that initiative is to achieve a rapid reduction in the EU’s reliance on Russian energy.
The European Commission on Tuesday outlined a plan to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds within a year, including by importing more liquefied natural gas, boosting renewable energy generation, and cutting demand via efficiency measures. Leaders at Thursday’s summit will vow to “phase out” the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas, oil, and coal, according to the draft declaration.
In recent days, however, member states have diverged over how realistic that goal is, with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, warning on Monday that it could not be achieved “overnight” as he refused to back a blockade on oil imports from Russia.
Differences are also emerging over the best way to pay for the energy ambitions and the EU’s wider strategic objectives.