EU leaders agreed to launch a record-breaking armament program during yesterday’s special summit.

According to the plan, the EU will provide €150 billion in favorable loans to enable member states to procure large quantities of weapons. The additional debt totaling €650 billion will need to be covered by the member states themselves.

At the summit, heads of state and government accepted the €800 billion armament program initially drafted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Under the program, Brussels will provide €150 billion in favorable loans for member states to purchase weapons, which is notable because the EU budget is not actually permitted to finance weapons.

According to reports, the loan terms include a “Buy European” clause: European weapons will be purchased instead of American ones. Additionally, debts incurred for purchasing war equipment no longer need to be included in the 3% debt ceiling stipulated in the Stability and Growth Pact.

Von der Leyen said this would likely enable the mobilization of €650 billion.

Outlining her “ReArm Europe” plan, which she first announced to leaders on Tuesday, von der Leyen confirmed she would present a legal text detailing her menu of five defense funding options by the next summit.

These five options, which received varying levels of support on Thursday, include: the €150 billion loan, activation of a national “escape clause” in the bloc’s fiscal rules, encouraging the use of cohesion funds for defense spending, a larger role for the European Investment Bank, and mobilizing private capital through the completion of the Savings and Investment Union.

Joint borrowing or issuing Eurobonds is not yet on the table, although French President Emmanuel Macron said after the summit that he was “ready to look at” the idea.

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed he wanted to go further with German spending plans by ensuring defense investments would be exempted from EU fiscal rules in the long term.

European Council President António Costa, who convened the emergency summit, called for “flexibility” in applying financial rules but avoided supporting Germany’s proposal for a complete overhaul.

The fact that this would lead to more borrowing by member states, including heavily indebted EU states with debt exceeding 100% of their economic output, was not explicitly addressed yesterday.

However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed concerns. Italy’s debt currently exceeds €3 trillion, reaching approximately 137% of its gross domestic product.

In Brussels, Meloni stated she feared market reactions due to high demands if expensive defense projects placed additional burdens on the Italian state.

Rome also objects to using “cohesion funds” for armament. According to sources, the Italian government made it clear in the European Council that these funds are their business and purchasing weapons is not part of it.

Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani stated, “When it comes to cohesion funds, we won’t use them because they need to be allocated to other things. There’s no concern about this.”

EU defense bonds, which could reduce pressure on heavily indebted member states, continue to be rejected by Berlin.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the new decisions were only a first step; he emphasized that he would advocate for measures such as deploying “European and NATO troops to the Russian and Belarusian border,” perhaps “not today” but definitely “tomorrow.”

Tusk also said, “Europe should now start an ‘arms race’ with Russia and win it.”

At the 27-country summit, the statement of support for Ukraine was endorsed by 26 countries. Hungary refused to sign this declaration.

Hungary did not accept the statement that all other EU leaders “firmly supported,” confirming that “negotiations on Ukraine cannot be conducted without Ukraine” and that any peace agreement “must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”

Slovakia, under Robert Fico’s leadership, was persuaded to support the Ukraine text after a last-minute addition of a clause regarding the search for “viable solutions” to the ongoing gas supply dispute with Kyiv.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who joined the leaders for a working dinner in Brussels, said they had a “very productive day” and confirmed he would be heading to Saudi Arabia next week with his team to participate in talks with the US.

In his statement to journalists upon his early Thursday arrival, he had said, “We are not alone, and we feel this.”

Emmanuel Macron, in agreement with Zelensky and EU allies, said he was ready to speak with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as part of peace talks “when the right time comes.”

Macron said, “At the moment, we are entering a stage of discussion and dialogue that will completely justify negotiations with [Russian] leaders at some point.”

The President also expressed his support for a new joint EU debt to increase defense investments in the long term, saying, “Market financing will demonstrate this common will to go further on defense.”

Macron also said he favored reviving the digital tax, negotiations for which have reached an impasse, to increase the EU’s own resources.

Meanwhile, the EU’s three top officials (European Council President António Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas) are expected to brief non-EU partner countries tomorrow morning via video call about the discussions.

A senior EU official told journalists before the summit that the briefing, which would include Norway, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Türkiye, and possibly Canada, aimed to establish “a coordination link” among Ukraine’s allies.

Additionally, German leader Scholz said he thought it would be a good idea to open defense projects supported by the proposed €150 billion EU credit facility to non-EU allies, including Britain and Türkiye.