The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, this Monday assured the delivery of fighter aircraft (‘fighters’) F-16 to Ukraine: “We have not given them yet, but we will give them”.
The statement was made at the opening of the 39th Meeting of the Economy Circle, which took place in Barcelona, after raising questions about sending these planes as the next step in helping Ukraine respond to the invasion of the country by the Russian Federation.
Borrell recalled the military aid already provided, from individual equipment to anti-aircraft systems, passing through the Leopard tanks.
“Now it’s the F-16. We haven’t given them away yet, but we will,” he assured.
Borrell recalled that at its recent summit, the G7 decided to “prepare the ground to give Ukraine the ‘fighters’ it needs”, by giving the green light to the training of Ukrainian pilots.
On the other hand, he stated that he was not optimistic about developments in the summer, given the current concentration of forces and the “clear will” of the Russian Federation to win the war rather than negotiate.
Borrell also defended that the European Union must increase its defense capacity and its coordination in this area “if it wants to be a world power”, which entails an increase in the military budget.
“I know that (election) campaigns are not won that way, but the world is as it is and not as we would like it to be. And it is a dangerous world where there are countries around that can cause us problems,” he said, as example with the Russian Federation, but also with regions such as the Sahel and other parts of Africa.
In this sense, he pointed out that the past year, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has “exposed shortages and limitations”, something he said “should be ended”.
Turning to China and rising tensions with the US, Borrell said that “Europe has no interest in another cold war” while admitting that China “surpassed” Europeans as Latin America’s top trading partner.
Source: DN
