Brussels audits EU states’ arms supplies to Ukraine after complaints - FT
Kyiv • UNN
The EU is conducting an audit of military aid provided to Ukraine by its member states amid accusations that some countries are not providing as much as they could. The audit comes as Brussels and Washington are trying to agree on new financial aid for Ukraine.
Brussels is conducting an audit of how many weapons EU member states provided to Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in response to claims that some capitals have failed to send as much as they could, the Financial Times reports, UNN writes.
Details
The publication notes that the audit is being conducted at a time when Brussels and Washington are struggling to find a political consensus that would allow them to send new financial aid packages to Ukraine totaling about $110 billion.
"The EU's diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), is conducting a review of weapons supplied by member states after Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022," the FT writes, citing three EU diplomats briefed on the plans.
The EEAS, as stated, intends to submit its conclusions to EU governments before the February 1 summit of EU leaders.
According to one diplomat, the audit will rely on materials submitted by member states in response to EEAS requests, which, according to one diplomat, has already met with resistance from some countries that are unwilling to provide complete data.
The decision to conduct the inspection came after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz demanded last week to calculate and compare military supplies to Ukraine. "The arms supplies to Ukraine currently planned by most EU member states are too small," he said.
"We (also) need an overview of what concrete contribution our European partners will make in support of Ukraine this year," Scholz told reporters last Monday.
His comments echoed remarks made privately by officials of other EU countries about the scale of military supplies promised by other member states.
According to a study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany has made the largest arms commitments in the EU in terms of value. Its commitments, which totaled more than 17 billion euros by October 31 last year, are about five times the value of those of Denmark, the next largest contributor.
"Although Scholz's remarks were interpreted as a rebuke to other major EU powers, such as France and Italy, whose military commitments are much smaller, his public call for more transparency was privately supported by senior officials in Brussels who believe that some states could have provided Kyiv with more weapons at a critical point in the conflict," the publication points out.
Some EU countries other than Germany, especially in the east of the bloc, are also pushing for an expansion of the European Peace Facility (EPF), a joint fund that partially finances arms shipments to Ukraine, to increase supplies and share the cost burden.
The EPF, which finances defense projects in third countries, has not received support since June 2023, and the bloc's 27 member states have not been able to agree on a special portion of €5 billion a year for Ukraine.
"We have to make sure that (the EPF) is back on track and we can use it again for further tranches of support to Ukraine," said a senior EU diplomat. Without the EPF, "some member states ... will not provide any military support.
