EU develops further steps to support Ukraine, will propose arms procurement plan by end of April - Politico
Kyiv • UNN
The EU plans to propose joint arms procurement initiatives by the end of April and intensify efforts to provide the next tranche of military aid to Ukraine worth €500 million, and will continue discussions on security commitments to finalize a joint statement between the EU and Ukraine.
The European Union has worked out the next steps to increase financial and military support for Ukraine and is going to present a proposal for joint arms procurement initiatives by the end of April, Politico reports, citing the relevant document, UNN writes.
Details
According to the newspaper, "the document, which translates last week's European Council decision into concrete actions, dated March 25, outlines the next steps to increase financial and military support for Ukraine."
"According to the document, EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell "is expected to present a proposal for joint procurement initiatives (lethal and non-lethal) by April 2024," the publication writes.
The EU diplomat is also said to be "further intensifying efforts" to reach an agreement on the next €500 million tranche of the European Peace Fund, which is being blocked by Hungary.
Borrell and the EU countries will also continue discussing security commitments to finalize a joint statement by the EU and Ukraine, the newspaper writes, citing the document.
It is also reported, citing two EU diplomats and an EU official, that EU defense ministers will meet in Luxembourg on April 22. They will join the bloc's foreign ministers, who were already scheduled to meet in Luxembourg.
"The additional meeting symbolizes a growing sense in Brussels of the need to urgently step up defense, especially as the United States hesitates to continue funding Ukraine and Donald Trump's possible return to the presidency," the newspaper writes.
EU leaders and their entourage returned home from last week's European Council summit with a growing sense that Russia must be defeated in the war with Ukraine - as Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said - and that support for defense bonds (issuing joint debt for military spending) is growing.
"More and more member states are supporting this idea," said one EU official. - "If Germany makes a move, the Netherlands will also make a move.
However, according to Nikolai von Ondarza of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, this is unlikely to happen in the near future. Any step, he writes, must come from the liberal FDP party, which is categorically against this idea.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expressed cold criticism of the use of the EU budget to finance defense and military projects (first reported by the FT). "New proposals are being made every day," said Scholz, a former finance minister, when asked if the EU budget could be used for defense. "I've never seen anything like this in Europe before, and I've been watching for quite some time. That's why I don't believe in it," he pointed out.
