European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been accused of attempting to grab more power for Brussels after unveiling a “rearm Europe” plan based on an €800 billion fund for European defence and “immediate” aid to Ukraine.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said on March 3, in response to von der Leyen’s earlier statements following the Ukraine summit in London, that she was “arrogating powers to herself that are not hers”.
“I would remind Mrs von der Leyen that security and defence policy is not a competence of the Commission, but of the Member States, and that we are not fooled by the constant practice of arrogating new competences to ourselves at every crisis, against the Treaties,” Le Pen stated.
After the public spat between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on February 28, on March 4 the European Union said it wanted to increase its support for Ukraine and rebuild its own depleted defence industry. That came on the same day Trump announced a “pause” in military aid to Ukraine.
With the ReArm Europe Plan, Brussels said it intended to “unleash the use of public funding in defence at national level”.
We are living in dangerous times.
Europe‘s security is threatened in a very real way.
Today I present ReArm Europe.
A plan for a safer and more resilient Europe ↓ https://t.co/CYTytB5ZMk
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 4, 2025
Le Pen responded: “The European Commission is completely overstepping its authority. As always, it is using a crisis to seize powers that are not its own, but those of the [member] states.
“It has already used this modus operandi to seize immigration policy thanks to the migrant crisis and health policy during the Covid crisis … This must be rejected”.
Je rappelle à Madame von der Leyen, que la politique de sécurité et de défense n’est pas une compétence de la Commission, mais celle des États et que nous ne sommes pas dupes du modus operandi constant de s’arroger à chaque crise, et contre les traités, de nouvelles compétences. pic.twitter.com/3Fj2SsqU2u
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) March 3, 2025
National Party President Jordan Bardella echoed Le Pen. “Ursula von der Leyen has neither the competence in terms of prerogatives nor even the mandate to grant herself defence,” he said.
Bardella insisted that, instead of European defence, France should work on its own national defence. He added that his party wanted to gradually increase the country’s defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, compared with 2 per cent now, and to introduce European preference in defence procurement.
Le Pen also targeted French President Emmanuel Macron, who had indicated he was open to expanding French nuclear deterrence to the rest of Europe.
“For several years now – and again … the President of the Republic, despite being the guarantor of national independence and therefore of its most powerful tool, nuclear weapons, has been undermining our deterrence model through communication that is at best haphazard and at worst perjurious,” Le Pen said.
The Conservative commentator Mathieu Bock-Côté said on March 3 on the popular French TV show Face à ‘l Info that he was amazed at the “frivolousness” of European leaders.
He criticised what he saw as their eagerness to level accusations of alleged sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin and to draw comparisons to Neville Chamberlain in the Second Word War while seemingly ignoring the what he said was the looming threat of nuclear conflict.
Bock-Côté also claimed the current crisis situation was being used by European federalists to further centralise power within the EU.
“This narrative always resurfaces: We must think as Europeans — which effectively means no longer thinking as French or as citizens of any individual member state.
“If you do not align strategically, politically, culturally, and historically with the vision of European sovereignty—favoured by some but not by all — you are immediately branded a traitor or a Putin sympathiser,” Bock-Côté said.
He added that he believed those who wished to consider matters from a national perspective tend to be dismissed as reactionaries.
Bock-Côté also noted that Ukraine was not an EU or NATO member but that it seemed EU elites used the country to bypass what elections did not achieve, namely the creation of an imperial Europe that transcended national sovereignty.
NOW – #EU top bureaucrat #VonDerLeyen: "We are in an era of rearmament."
Amazing how the person who helped ruin the whole thing as Minister of Defense in Germany now pretends to have the answers. Hypocrisy and incompetence in one package.
“The Bundeswehr’s condition is… https://t.co/RfkCewlAnC pic.twitter.com/CuZ1DViaIx
— Rob Roos 🇳🇱 (@Rob_Roos) March 4, 2025
The EC said it would activate the national escape clause of the stability and growth pact, allowing member states to take on more debt and increase their defence spending by up to €650 billion over four years without triggering the excessive deficit procedure.
Secondly, the body will propose a new instrument, providing €150 billion in loans to member states for defence investment.
That, it said, was to serve pan-European capability domains such as air and missile defence, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition drones and anti-drone systems but also other needs ranging from cyber systems to military mobility.
“This approach of joint procurement will also reduce costs, reduce fragmentation, increase interoperability and strengthen our defence industrial base,” the EC claimed.
Von der Leyen said she also wanted member states to use “cohesion policy programmes” to increase defence spending.
Thirdly, the EC said it wanted to use the EU budget for direct investments, in league with the European Investment Bank.
“We’re living in … dangerous of times,” von der Leyen said. “We are in an era of rearmament and Europe is ready to massively boost its defence spending.
“This is the moment for Europe.
“We will continue working closely with our partners in NATO. This is a moment for Europe and we are ready to step up,” she added.
