The sweeping sanctions and rapid decision making the EU has achieved since Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago has 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 capitalising 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 defence 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”.