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BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to put added pressure on EU partners to deliver more weapons to Ukraine by raising the issue at a special summit of EU leaders next month.
Politicos will meet in Brussels on February 1, where they plan to adopt a €50 billion financial aid package for Kyiv. Scholz intends to use the occasion to hold an additional debate about military support for Ukraine that individual EU countries plan for this year, a German official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told POLITICO.
The chancellor issued an unusually direct warning on Monday that “the arms deliveries for Ukraine planned so far by the majority of EU member states are by all means too small,” adding: “I therefore call on our allies in the European Union to also step up their efforts in support of Ukraine … We need higher contributions.”
Scholz also said he had asked the EU to compile a list of all the military aid that member countries are planning this year, “at the latest” by the February 1 summit.
Berlin’s plan to debate the findings of that list with leaders is likely to raise pressure on countries like France, Italy and Spain, which have donated comparably few military goods to Kyiv so far, at least according to publicly available information.
According to the Kiel Institute, which tallied up military aid to Ukraine in the public domain, Germany was the second-highest donor last year after the U.S., with €17.1 billion; it was followed by the U.K. with €6.6 billion and by Nordic and Eastern EU countries. France, in comparison, has only contributed €0.54 billion, Italy €0.69 billion and Spain €0.34 billion.
