“We are going to increase our advocacy effortsbut to do it in a lighter way and avoid wasting moneywe have to do more things together.” The head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrellhas defended this Tuesday the joint purchase of weapons in the European Union, following the model used for the acquisition of vaccines against Covid-19.
Greater coordination between the Member States in the purchase of arms would make it possible to “avoid compete for the same products with limited industrial capacityincrease our negotiating power and guarantee the interoperability of the Armies”, said Borrell at the end of the meeting of the 27 Defense Ministers held this Tuesday in Brussels.
Nowadays, only 18% of investment in defense programs is done in a coordinated manner in the EU, while 52% is purely national. “The degree of coordination between our Armies when it comes to increasing capabilities is very low and that must change,” complained the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
[La UE destinará 500 millones a la creación de una plataforma de compra conjunta de armamento]
The immediate priority according to Brussels is that European governments replenish their military arsenal after the massive shipment of aid to Ukraine to deal with Russia’s war of aggression. “It is true that we have made an effort to supply weapons to the Ukrainian Army. These weapons have not been produced on the spot, they have been taken from stocks. Therefore, stocks must be replenished,” Borrell said.
“What is the important? The important thing is to go together, so as not to divide the market, so as not to compete with each other.. If we go together we achieve better prices, better quality and better deadlines,” says the head of European diplomacy.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Tuesday not to underestimate Russia
The Community Executive has already proposed allocating 500 million from the EU budget to create a joint platform purchase of weapons. But the plan has not yet received the endorsement of governments, always reluctant to cede sovereignty in defense matters.
Borrell has also raised with the defense ministers the need to increase the budget of the European Peace Facility, with which the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine is financed. Two thirds of the money (3.1 billion euros) have already been spent to help the kyiv government and more funds will be needed because “the war will unfortunately continue and there are other theaters that we must attend to“, he explained. But at the moment there is no agreement between the capitals on the extra money that is needed.
[Borrell cifra en 8.000 millones la ayuda militar de la UE a Ucrania, el 45% de Estados Unidos]
In any case, the defense ministers of the 27 have pledged to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons, particularly air defense systems to stop Moscow’s bombing of cities and energy infrastructure. Borrell maintains that thanks to the help of the EU and the US, the kyiv government has managed to recover 50% of the territory occupied by Russia since the start of the warincluding the city of Kherson.
“We must not make the mistake of underestimating Russia“, has warned the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenbergwho also participated in the meeting.
“Russia retains significant military capabilities, a high number of troops. We have seen that Russia is willing to suffer large numbers of casualties and we have also seen brutality, especially in the areas that have been liberated. Therefore, we must continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes with skills but also with training,” says Stoltenberg.
The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, during the meeting this Tuesday in Brussels
Defense ministers have given the final green light to the EU mission to train the Ukrainian Army, whose goal is to train up to 15,000 soldiers. The training will be carried out mainly in Germany and Poland. More than 20 Member States have announced that they will participate in the operation, with an assigned budget of 16 million euros.
Defense Minister, Daisy Robleshas announced that Spain offers train up to 2,400 Ukrainian servicemen a year (400 soldiers every two months). For this, the necessary facilities have already been set up at the Toledo academy so that the military can stay in adequate conditions. Spain is already bilaterally training 112 Ukrainian soldiers.
