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BRUSSELS, March 2 () –
The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has proposed this Thursday to the Member States of the European Union a plan of 1,000 million euros to guarantee the supply of artillery ammunition to Ukraine, especially 155 caliber.
The initiative comes from the head of community diplomacy who, according to several diplomatic sources, has asked the Twenty-seven for an extraordinary support package of 1,000 million, especially focused on the supply of ammunition, as soon as the 2,000 million that the States are released Members agreed last December to restore the European Peace Facility, the instrument with which the EU has financed the shipment of arms to Ukraine during the war.
The idea is that partners related to the EU can also join, through voluntary contributions, in such a way that the shipment of ammunition to Ukraine is unified, thus meeting the needs of the Ukrainian Army on the battlefield in the face of the resurgence of fighting in the east of the country.
The other leg of the plan is to advance the plan for the joint purchase of arms and ammunition, something on which the European Defense Agency (EDA) has already taken steps. As Borrell explained, the agency is finalizing a project to, jointly but voluntarily, acquire seven different categories of ammunition, according to caliber.
The project is planned in the long term, it would have a duration of seven years, and seeks to avoid the fragmentation of the European military industry. So far, 25 Member States, in addition to Norway, have confirmed their interest in the initiative according to diplomatic sources.
For now, a first debate on the proposal took place this Thursday in Brussels within the framework of the Common Security and Defense Policy Committee. Now it is expected that the plan will be endorsed at the informal meeting of European Defense Ministers on 7 and March 8 in Sweden.
The High Representative already warned a few weeks ago that the continuous supply of 155-millimeter ammunition is the “most important issue” right now to maintain kyiv’s military efforts. This step picks up the gauntlet of Estonia, which calls for a mechanism for joint arms and ammunition purchases to ensure that the EU uses its joint capacity to quickly and sustainably supply ammunition to the Ukrainian Army, following the example of the procurement of vaccines during the pandemic.
