Borrell raises a fund of 20,000 million to provide long-term military support to Ukraine

Until now, no one had nailed down what these security guarantees mean in practice. The first to do so is the High Representative of the EU for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrellwhich has asked the capitals to create a fund of 20,000 million of euros devoted exclusively to finance the shipment of weapons to Ukraine over the next few years, according to diplomatic sources.

Borrell’s initiative discussed for the first time at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Twenty-seven that is being held this Thursday in Brussels. But governments rule out a short-term deal and expect negotiations to drag on until the fall: money debates are the toughest in the EU. The military aid fund for Ukraine also collides with the reluctance of countries like Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.

[La UE se divide sobre las “garantías de seguridad” a Ucrania para frenar al Kremlin tras la guerra]

After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Brussels broke in a few days the taboo of not sending weapons to countries in conflict, mobilizing the European Peace Support Fund. In the past year and a half, the EU has allocated 5,600 million euros from the community budget to finance the delivery of military equipment to kyiv, in successive tranches of 500 million each. Precisely, Budapest has vetoed the last payment of 500 million in protest against Zelenski’s decision to include the Hungarian bank OTP in the black list of entities that collaborate with the conflict.

What Borrell intends with this fund of 20,000 million is end uncertainty and problems that arise with each tranche of 500 million, and give assurances about “long-term” military support for Ukraine. “During the war and after the war, we have to make Ukraine capable of defending itself. Then the European Peace Fund may have to become a Ukrainian Defense Fund“, said the former Spanish foreign minister at the European Council in June, when the “security guarantees” were approved.

“We must hone long-term military support for Ukraine, to show Russia that it is not in its interest to continue the war and that we will be in a position to deter him if another attack is planned once the conflict has ended,” explains a senior European diplomat.

On the agenda of the EU foreign affairs ministers there is also a debate on how to obtain more support for Zelenski’s peace plan among non-EU countries. The other highlight on the agenda is the Kremlin decision to end the Grain Export Initiativewhich has allowed the “safe export” of almost 33 million tons of grain and food to 45 countries in more than 1,000 ships.

“Russia continues to use food as a weapon. With her decision to end the agreements, she is solely responsible for disrupting grain supplies around the world and for stoking food price inflation on a global scale,” Borrell denounced.

The EU has urged the Kremlin to reconsider its decision, but without much hope of success. In fact, Brussels intends strengthen alternative rail corridors launched last year to bypass the Russian blockade of Black Sea ports. Through these routes, 41 tons of grain have already been exported, more than by sea.