Brussels (EFE) to Ukraine, as well as to undertake joint procurement and increase the production capacity of the European defense industry.
“Together, the foreign and defense ministers will finalize, I hope, the agreement to provide ammunition to Ukraine,” declared the Spanish politician upon arrival at the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Twenty-seven held today in Brussels.
During the afternoon, the heads of diplomacy of the member states will be joined by defense ministers to address the issue of ammunition.
Specifically, the EU wants to allocate 2,000 million euros to deliver 1 million artillery rounds to kyiv in the next twelve months, according to a document to which EFE has had access.
The plan being discussed by the ministers has three paths and the first of them proposes delivering to Ukraine as soon as possible the ammunition reserves, mainly 155 mm, that the EU countries already have or that they have already commissioned from the industry. That ammunition can be Western or Soviet type.
FEAP Program
For this, Borrell has proposed using 1,000 million euros from the European Peace Support Fund (FEAP).
The FEAP is a program that, outside the community budget and made up of contributions from the Member States, is being used to finance the delivery of weapons to kyiv.
Those 1,000 million from the fund will allow countries to be reimbursed between 50 and 60% of the cost of the ammunition that they deliver to Ukraine in an accelerated manner.
To ensure that Ukraine can continue to be supported and guarantee EU countries that their arsenals will be replenished, the plan’s second track calls for the European Defense Agency to make joint purchases of ammunition or for at least three member states to partner to carry out those acquisitions.
For this second track, another 1 billion euros of the FEAP has been proposed, which would only be used for reimbursements of ammunition sent to Ukraine and not for ammunition that remains in the reserves of the Member States.
The third track of the agreement also aims to boost the European military industry in the longer term.
“I hope that the ministers, all of them, will engage in a final discussion and agree on a very important decision for this afternoon. Otherwise, we will have a hard time continuing to supply weapons to Ukraine,” Borrell said.
Countries like Germany prefer to make ammunition purchases at the national level and Borrell said that this possibility is not excluded.
“The purpose is to provide ammunition to Ukraine: as quickly as possible, in the largest possible quantity at the lowest price. Let’s be practical.
Fast, cheap and the necessary quantities. If Germany has the way to do that, nothing excludes it. The important thing is to go together as much as we can. There is a project at the European Defense Agency. Fifteen Member States have joined this project. It does not exclude other actions”, stated the former Spanish minister.
In any case, Borrell found that the EU must “produce more”, for which the production capacity of the industry must be increased and, for this, companies must have “a clear perspective of demand”.
Borrell asks to “be practical”
The Spanish politician insisted on “being practical” and “not getting into a battle of skills and egos.”
“We have to provide ammunition to Ukraine quickly, in larger quantities and on the best economic and financial conditions for us,” he said.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, said that Spain “always likes to work together” and prefers that joint purchases “be made within the European defense industry.”
“But of course, that should not be an obstacle for us to reach this agreement,” he admitted.
His Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, considered that it is “too early” to say if the joint purchases will only be made in European companies or also in those of third countries.
“Of course, we also need the support of the United States. In this portfolio the role of the US and other countries outside the EU, the UK and Canada, has been very notable”, he mentioned.