“Europe faces a clear and present danger,” Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the E.U. executive arm, said as she walked into the gathering on Thursday alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, calling this a “watershed moment.”

Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, was even blunter.

“It is about damn time,” she said. “We are ready to put, finally, our money where our mouth is.”

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.