European leaders, including Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela, will be convening in Brussels today for what should be a crucial summit in this delicate juncture of world affairs.

With the Russia-Ukraine war having entered its fourth year, and with more recent developments including Donald Trump's return to the White House shaking up world politics, the European leaders have important decisions to make.

Today's meeting comes soon after the clash that the US President had with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last Friday, a confrontation that opened the floodgates of uncertainty, which is also exacerbated by the Middle East trouble.

Since the Trump- Zelenskyy clash in Washington, the situation seemed to have somewhat calmed down, with the Ukrainian leader saying he wants to work for peace as diplomatic channels scrambled to defuse volatility. But we have also had Trump ordering a pause to military aid to Ukraine as it grapples with Russia's invasion.

The recent developments have pushed the European Union to call an emergency summit for today, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposing an €800 billion plan to beef up the defences of EU nations in a bid to lessen the impact of US disengagement and provide Ukraine with military muscle.

"I do not need to describe the grave nature of the threats that we face," von der Leyen told the media last Tuesday during the presentation of her plan. The risks of an escalation have grown exponentially in the past weeks and the EU does not want to be caught unguarded.

But there are hurdles that need to be overcome when the leaders meet in Brussels today. Many EU nations have been unwilling to spend much on defence over the past decades, while a sluggish economy in the past years - made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic which was followed by high inflation, brought about also because of the Russia-Ukraine war - has left little room in which they could manoeuvre. Some have argued, including Abela, that more spending on defence would also mean less money available for sectors such as health, education and the environment.

Von der Leyen's counter-argument to this is that there would be a loosening of fiscal constraints the EU puts on budgetary spending to allow member states to significantly increase their defence expenditure without triggering punishing rules aimed to keep deficits from going too far in the red. In other words, it would help member states to be able to increase their defence spending while not cutting their expenditure on other sectors.

The commission's plan will force EU member states to increase their military spending beyond the 2% of gross domestic product they follow. NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte has said that member states need to go above the 3% threshold as quickly as possible.

This plan will now be on the table during today's summit.

But the ultimate goal goes beyond number-crunching and defence spending. The aim should be the end to hostilities between Russia and the Ukraine, for a peace deal that protects Ukraine's sovreignty.

Peace in the region will also mean peace in the rest of Europe.