Earlier this month European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen unveiled an initiative to help ramp up military budgets that she says could mobilise up to 800 billion euros.
The name: ReArm Europe.
It won broad support from EU countries who see a need to take a quantum leap on defence.
But for Spain and Italy, two countries whose defence budgets lag well below NATO's benchmark, one of the objections was its title.
"I don't like the term rearm," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at an EU summit Thursday. "I think that the European Union is a political project of soft power."
Sanchez, along with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, has pushed for a broad range of other issues to be covered in the programme -- including border protection and cyber security.
Part of the opposition to the name comes from the fact that talk of spending on weapons still goes down poorly in countries further from Russia, even more than three years into Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Under pressure the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, appears to have conceded the point.
It now refers to a broader "Readiness 2030" package aimed at putting the bloc in a stronger position by the end of the decade.
"We are sensitive to the fact that the name as such may trigger some sensitivities in some member states," commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho said Friday.
"If this makes it more difficult to convey the message to all citizens in the EU of the need to take these measures, of course, then we all are ready to not only to listen, but also to reflect it in the way we communicate."
The EU's plan isn't the first military initiative to face problems with its name in Brussels.
Across town at NATO headquarters last year Germany refused to let the military alliance call a proposal to help coordinate arms supplies to Ukraine a "mission" -- much to the chagrin of other members.
In the end they had to opt for the clumsy acronym NSATU - standing for NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.
Germany approves 3 bn euros in new Ukraine military aid
Berlin (AFP) Mar 21, 2025 -
Germany on Friday approved three billion euros ($3.25 billion) in new military aid for Ukraine, just days before planned US-brokered talks with Moscow and Kyiv on a limited truce.
The money is earmarked for defence equipment for the country fighting Russian forces, including munitions, drones, armoured vehicles and air-defence systems.
The parliament's budget committee gave the green light for the funds, which had been on hold for months amid discord in the coalition government of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
But the final adoption on Friday of a major new spending package that also eased Germany's strict debt rules for defence outlays gave the government new room for manoeuvre.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for the new aid in a post on X, saying it would provide "exactly what Ukraine needs most -- what saves Ukrainian lives.
"This means contracts with the German defense industry will now be signed for future -- a significant step toward building long-term security guarantees," Zelensky said.
"It is also a recognition that Ukraine's army will become even stronger after the war ends, and Germany is committed to contributing to that."
Greens MP Britta Hasselmann, whose party has strongly pushed for Ukraine aid, expressed relief the new billions were being released, "albeit late".
She called it "a strong signal to Ukraine, a signal that is absolutely necessary for peace and security in Europe".
- Support vow -
The new money comes on top of four billion euros in Ukraine military aid already planned in Germany's budget for 2025.
A further 8.3 billion euros were earmarked for Kyiv for 2026 to 2029.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit has said the latest package would include units of the German-made Iris-T air-defence systems that had yet to be built and would be delivered over the next two years.
Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest supplier of military aid after the United States, contributing some 28 billion euros so far since Russia launched its full-scale invasion over three years ago.
But the situation has changed dramatically since US President Donald Trump reached out to Russia's Vladimir Putin to end the war and suspended military aid to Ukraine. He also cast doubt on America's commitment to NATO.
- Ukraine 'can rely on us' -
Russia and Ukraine on Friday traded accusations of massive overnight attacks, three days before both sides will hold talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on how to halt the war.
Both countries have said they agree with a 30-day pause in strikes on energy targets, though they have continued their aerial attacks unabated.
Each has repeatedly accused the other of breaking the truce, which has not been formally agreed.
Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz, whose party won February elections, has pushed through a spending package worth hundreds of billions to bolster Germany's armed forces and infrastructure and to keep backing Ukraine.
Merz's conservatives are in coalition talks with the SPD of Scholz, who has also vowed that Germany would keep supporting Kyiv.
Ukraine "can rely on us and we will never leave it on its own," Scholz said at a European Council summit late Thursday.
"It will also need a strong army in times of peace, and it must not be put in danger by any peace agreement."
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