The EU’s €50bn package for Ukraine is a far cry from its rhetoric

AEUs Yugoslavia threatenedEUGDP to descend into bloodshed in 1991, its neighbours flew in to offer help. “This is the hour of Europe,” declared Jacques Poos, the Luxembourgish foreign minister dispatched to Belgrade by the European institutions in Brussels to stop all-out war from erupting. It was not. Savage fighting ensued, ultimately brought to an end mostly by America, proving Mr Poos wrong. Three decades on, the hour of Europe has come again. On February 1st, at a summit of the ’s 27 national leaders in Brussels, politicians will emerge bleary-eyed from into-the-night talks to announce—if all goes well—a package of €50bn ($55bn) in support of Ukraine. Amid the self-congratulation and soaring press-conference guff about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with an embattled neighbour, it will be considered impolite to note the package is to be spread out over four years and amounts to around 0.08% of the of the union in that period.