EU leaders are set to meet to address the fallout of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that has threatened the bloc's economy and exposed a dire need for stronger defence and energy autonomy.
This Thursday's meeting at the Chateau de Versailles was set to be the apex of France's six-month presidency of the European Union, but President Emmanuel Macron will instead find himself spearheading a crisis summit to respond to Russian leader Vladimir Putin's brutal disruption to decades of stability in Europe following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
A draft of the two-day meeting's final declaration states: "Russia's war of aggression constitutes a tectonic shift in European history."
The leaders will be tasked with finding how the EU can live up to its responsibilities "in this new reality", protect European citizens, values and the European democratic model.
The 27 heads of state and government meet as fighting continues into its15th day in Ukraine, with more than two million refugees escaping east to countries across Europe, mainly Poland.
The conflict has seen a swell of EU support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and leaders are expected to seriously consider the leader's plea to fast-track membership of the European Union and escape the grasp of Russia.
According to a source close to the French presidency: "Our first priority is to send a political message to Ukraine that it belongs to the European family."
The Versailles Summit on Thurs/Fri this week will discuss a new EU mutualised debt programme to share the pain from the Ukraine war, both the economic impact and future defence spending & energy decoupling. Will update on where debate sits later this weekhttps://t.co/1eavNVu8Ro
— Mujtaba (Mij) Rahman (@Mij_Europe) March 6, 2022
Defence and energy top the agenda
However, diplomats say the main topic in Versailles is to urgently explore ways to shore up Europe's self-reliance in a starkly more dangerous world, especially on energy.
The energy price shock caused by the Ukraine invasion has endangered an EU economy emerging from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic and fuelled heated debate on how to protect consumers.
Western allies have rolled-out waves of sanctions against Russia whose knock-on effects have exposed Europe's precarious dependency on Moscow for gas and oil - a reality the summit will seek ways to address.
Europe's dependency on Russian energy exposed the first split in the West's unified response to Putin's aggression, with the EU shying away from an outright ban on Russian oil imports implemented by the United States and Britain.
The EU imports about 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia with Germany, Europe's biggest economy, especially dependent on the energy flow, along with Italy and several central European countries.
About a quarter of the EU's oil imports also come from Russia.
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Resolute investment in self-reliance required
The EU leaders will also strive to advance on ways Europe can build its autonomy in crucial sectors such as semiconductors, food production and most notably defence.
Collective security in the European Union is primarily handled by the US-led NATO alliance, but France - the EU's biggest military power - would like the bloc to play a bigger role.
Since Russia's invasion of its pro-EU neighbour, bloc members have disbursed €500million in defence aid to Ukraine.
This comes as Germany announced it would invest an unprecedented €100 billion into national defence in view of the challenges on Berlin's doorstep.
