In two camps Europe for Eurobond: France and Italy support the Mitsotaki proposal, which countries say ‘no’

France and Italy support the Greek Prime Minister’s proposal in Brussels for the Eurobond in defence of Europe. “It is quite clear that if Europe really wants to remain armored defence, it should consider new ways to finance defence spending. And here I am referring specifically to the possibility of being able to issue Eurobonds, which will be used solely for its defence,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed on Thursday (21.03). 24) at the Brussels Summit. According to European diplomatic sources, this proposal is supported by France and Italy and the southern countries in general, but it is not supported by the so-called ‘cheese’ countries of the North, namely Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria. In the draft conclusions of the European Council, European leaders call for ‘all options’ to be considered in view of the Commission report expected in June. With regard to the issue of the use of surplus profits by frozen Russian assets in order to strengthen Ukraine’s arsenal, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands advocated, saying that the European Commission’s proposal is ‘very promising’. He noted that the Commission found a ‘strong legal path’ and that the next steps should be taken. Mark Rute said he is not sure whether there will be an agreement on this today, but expressed confidence that it will be done soon. For the situation in the Middle East and the Gaza Strip, the Dutch Prime Minister stressed the need to cease hostilities, so that all hostages could be released and all possible corridors for access to humanitarian aid were opened. He stressed that discussions at the European Council would focus on ensuring the massive influx of humanitarian aid to Gaza and discouraging Israel to make land attack on Rafa, which would be “humanistic havoc”.