Emmanuel Macron has been accused of blocking a €30 billion weapons programme for Ukraine despite promising Donald Trump that Europe would step up its support for Kyiv.
The “enhanced EU military support to Ukraine scheme” was drawn up in response to the US president’s demand for Europe to carry a greater share of the burden for backing Ukraine’s defence against the Russian invasion.
The plan, outlined in a paper seen by The Telegraph, aims to deliver 1.5 million artillery rounds, precision-strike missiles, air-defence systems, drones and provide training for Ukrainian recruits this year.
It will likely be raised in talks between Sir Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelensky and 16 other European leaders at Lancaster House in London on Sunday.
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Before the talks, which aim to strengthen support for Ukraine in anticipation of a potential ceasefire with Russia, French officials were branded the “biggest spoilers” of the EU’s plan.
Diplomatic sources said Paris was leading a coalition of southern European countries attempting to “kill it in committee”.
The opposition has led to harsh criticism of Mr Macron, France’s president, who has sought to position himself as Europe’s point man in talks with Mr Trump.
During a visit to the White House earlier this week, the French leader promised that Europe would “step up” in both its support for Ukraine and defence spending.
But his comments appear to fly in the face of the actions by French officials in Brussels.
An EU diplomat told The Telegraph: “Macron has set himself up as the de facto leader for Europe vis-à-vis Trump on everything on Ukraine. He talks a big game about understanding how to play Trump, how to talk tough.
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“He goes to Washington, plays the part, and by the time he lands, Trump has announced massive trade tariffs on Europe. Meanwhile, France does absolutely f— all on support to Ukraine and is the biggest spoiler on the one serious idea that’s on the table.”
The EU hopes it can convince member states to commit to raise between €20 billion (£16.5 billion) and €30 billion in support for Ukraine.
“Each MS [member states] will be assigned a financial quota of XXX (minus the EU contribution outlined below) according to their current GNI (gross national income) key,” the document, marked “EU limited”, reads.
France’s contribution to the scheme would be around 16 per cent of the entire fund, which means Paris could be on the hook for around €4.8 billion.
The money can be made up by member states through “in kind” donations of equipment directly to Ukraine, or through “in cash” contributions for joint purchases.
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“Non EU-partners will be invited to contribute to the initiative,” the document concludes, leaving the door open to British contributions.
France is being joined by Italy, Spain and Portugal in opposing the first drafts, drawn up by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top foreign diplomat.
The group of opposition countries are well behind in terms of military support for Kyiv, according to a tracker from the Kiel Institute.
Paris has contributed just short of €3.5 billion to Ukraine’s armed forces, while Italy’s contribution is €1.4 billion, according to the Institute’s latest data.
They are respectively the EU’s second and third-largest economies.
Spain’s contribution is €800 million and Portugal’s is €200 million.
In comparison, Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, has pledged Ukraine €12.6 billion in military aid.
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Apart from France, none of the southern countries hit the 2 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) target for defence spending set by Nato.
The debt-laden southern states are also leading a charge for EU budget rules to be relaxed in order to increase defence spending, which Mr Trump is demanding is raised to 5 per cent of GDP.
They are also the biggest proponents for the creation of “Eurobonds” for defence, using a joint debt scheme to finance the Continent’s largest rearmament since the end of the Cold War.
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