00:00A major plan by EU foreign policy chief Kayakallis to send urgent military aid of up to 40 billion
00:07euros to Ukraine failed to get off the ground at an EU summit in Brussels.
00:12The plan includes sending 5 billion euros on 2 million rounds of ammunition as well
00:17as air defence systems, missiles, drones and fighter jets.
00:20But President of the European Council Antonio Costa said Ukraine will be funded for 2025
00:26due to among other things the Commission's rearm plan adopted weeks prior.
00:56Also on the agenda was Europe's need to boost competitiveness and innovation amid
01:17sluggish growth at the spectre of a trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump's
01:21tariff announcements.
01:23Earlier on, the EU said it was delaying until mid-April retaliatory tariffs against sector-specific
01:29targets in the US.
01:30EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the decision was made to allow for more
01:34negotiations with the White House.
01:37We are in principle opposed to tariffs.
01:40We think that tariffs are bad.
01:42They are like taxes.
01:44They are bad for consumers.
01:46They are bad for business on both sides of the Atlantic without any question.
01:52We are in active discussion with the US administration on this issue and I can confirm that we decided
01:59to adjust the timing of the entry into force of tariffs.
02:04The impact of our response does not change.
02:08EU leaders also said they deplored the resumption of violence in Gaza where over 500 people
02:12have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, many of whom were children.
02:16They called for the ceasefire to be put back on track, for the hostages to be released
02:20without condition and for humanitarian aid to be allowed back into the enclave.
02:25Shona Murray, Euronews, Brussels.
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