European Commission president: Putin cannot be trusted, he can only be deterred

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that the EU wants to use all its financial levers to strengthen and accelerate defence production amid Russia's growing hostility.

She stressed in a speech to the European Parliament that there is now an urgent need to fill the gaps in Ukraine's military supplies, provide Ukraine with reliable security guarantees and ensure the security of the entire European continent.

"Putin has proven time and again that he is a hostile neighbour. He cannot be trusted, he can only be deterred," von der Leyen said. 

She noted that the Russian defence industrial base is producing more than Europe’s defence sector, and the Kremlin spends more on armaments than all of Europe combined. 

"The European Parliament has argued for years that Europe needed to do more. And you were absolutely right. In this more dangerous era, Europe needs to step up. And this is the goal of the plan that I presented to the leaders last week.  Its logic is simple: we want to pull every single financial lever we have to strengthen and fast-track our defence production," she added. 

Earlier, von der Leyen said that her ReArm Europe project laid the foundations for a European defence union.

During the extraordinary defence summit of EU leaders on 6 March, all EU leaders, including Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, voted unanimously for the ReArm Europe proposal.