BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas pushed back on Wednesday against Donald Trump for saying that Europe lagged behind the U.S. in aid for Ukraine, and insisted the bloc must have a seat at the table when the time comes for peace talks.

The EU has chosen PriceWaterhouseCoopers and a Slovak software company to develop a 9 million euro ($9.4 million) joint purchasing platform for critical minerals and energy, according to a European Commission source and a document seen by Reuters.

The EU's top diplomat and Poland's prime minister said Wednesday that the bloc must heed US President Donald Trump's demand to spend much more on defence -- faced with the "existential threat" posed by Russia.

Russia is posing an existential threat to the European Union's security and to only way to address that is to increase spending on defence, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday, adding that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

The European Union must arm itself to “survive” in an increasingly uncertain global order, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, calling on the bloc’s member states to boost spending on defense.

Brando Benifei, Bernd Lange, Eva Maydell, Sophie Wilmès and David McAllister — all lawmakers belonging to the Parliament’s centrist parties — will be attending, according to two MEPs and one official. But they are late to the party. Far-right factions, traditionally sidelined from Parliament’s business by the mainstream, are beating them to it.

Slovakia’s pro-Russian prime minister has raised the prospect of his country leaving the European Union and Nato, arguing that world events could consign them to the “history books”.

The European Commission wants to dissuade innovative start-up firms from moving to the U.S. to grow by creating rules that would allow them to easily operate across the 27-nation European Union, the head of the Commission said on Tuesday.

"It is necessary to have a constructive attitude of dialogue, but also naturally in defence of what is the interest of Europe and its member states," he said, adding that protectionism would only harm consumers in the countries or blocs that were raising tarriffs.

Energy company Drax lobbied Canadian officials for their intervention as the UK group sought changes to EU rules that could prevent the bloc from burning wood biomass sourced from forests in British Columbia.

The European Union is working on a proposal for bloc-wide purchase incentives for electric vehicles to support the bloc’s struggling automakers, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday.