On Wednesday, the defense minister announced a political agreement between member states for the purchase of large caliber ammunition for Ukraine, but within the amount of the European Peace Support Mechanism.
At the end of an informal meeting of European Union (EU) defense ministers in Stockholm, Sweden, Helena Carreiras announced that “there was general agreement on the plan”, presented by the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs , Joseph Borrell.
The agreement is purely political, as its final adoption depends on the meeting of the Union’s foreign ministers on 20 March and its ratification by the European Council on 25 and 26 March.
The plan, the defense minister explained, included protocols for the joint procurement of large caliber ammunition and the use of the “stockpile” readily available.
“States can be compensated for this support [de entrega de munições que tenham em ‘stock’] based on funds from the European Peace Facility”he added.
En route, the intention was announced this morning by the Estonian Defense Minister, Hanno Pevkur, of a package of 4,000 million euros for the purchase and production of 100 million ammunition. The demand was joined by Ukraine’s defense minister, invited to this meeting, who said he wanted a distribution of “90,000 to 100,000 rounds of ammunition per month”.
“At this point, we decided how we would use the resources, the funds we have, more than thinking about expanding or making decisions that we can only make later,” continues Helena Carreiras.
“For now we are not talking about fresh money,” he added, using the same phrase used by the Estonian counterpart in the morning.
The joint procurement of arms mirrors that of vaccines during the most critical period of the pandemic, “with one very important difference”: “Vaccines had to be researched, vaccines made, and here we have already identified the product, there is no research necessary, action must be taken.”
Source: DN
