EU member states agree on joint financing of arms for Ukraine

– International news – Tasnim News Agency According to “Pasayr Noye Perse” newspaper, after months of negotiations, EU countries on the continuation of the financing process They agreed to share military equipment for Ukraine. According to the agreement made in Brussels and according to the current rotating presidency of the European Union in Belgium and the diplomats of this country, this action is to ensure the supply of weapons, ammunition and other goods worth at least five billion euros.

In particular, the European Peace Facility Fund (EFF) is planned to be funded with additional funds. This financial instrument could be used to repay military aid to EU member states that support Ukraine and to pay for joint orders. The German federal government gave its consent only after it was agreed that bilateral support payments to Ukraine would be included in the necessary payments to the peace facility. Berlin has previously argued that bilateral aid can often be provided more quickly and efficiently.

The German federal government also noted that Hungary had for months blocked planned payments from the rest of the peace facility budget, theoretically It could continue to do so in the future, as any payment decision requires the consent of all member states.

At the same time, the new rules are intended to ensure greater fairness in support for Ukraine. This is an important issue for the German federal government, which has already promised Ukraine military aid worth more than seven billion euros this year alone, while Germany, as the largest economy, usually provides about a quarter of EU joint spending. finances The new rules should now allow bilateral aid to count for around half of EU funding.

The talks also meet France’s request that only arms and ammunition produced in Europe be included in the budget. To be financed by the European Union, it became more complicated. The French government argued that the defense industry in the EU needed firm orders to be able to permanently expand its production and survive international competition. However, opponents of these provisions argued that the first thing to do is to quickly support Ukraine.

In the end there is now a compromise that the European defense industry should be prioritized for orders. However, if this cannot be delivered quickly enough for Ukraine’s needs, EU money should also be used to pay orders to companies from non-EU countries.

Michael Klaus, Germany’s ambassador to the EU, He described the agreement as “good news for Ukraine”. He said that this would allow a quick and non-bureaucratic bilateral delivery of military goods as part of the EU’s support to Ukraine.

Pressure for these talks recently mainly stems from the tense situation at the front and the resolution of internal political disputes. No new aid to Ukraine has arisen in the United States. Ukraine has repeatedly stated that the armed forces of Ukraine urgently need more weapons and ammunition to be able to resist the Russian invaders. It was created and was initially allocated only about five billion euros for the period 2027-2021.

However, due to Russia’s unexpected war against Ukraine, these resources have been severely depleted. The upper financial limit for these expenses has already been raised to around twelve billion euros. To date, about 5.6 billion euros have been released from this fund only to help the armed forces of Ukraine. In addition to Ukraine, countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Lebanon and Mauritania also benefit to a much lesser extent from peace facilities.

end of message/