Germany distances itself from Borrell’s plan to jointly purchase ammunition to help Ukraine

The aggressive war of Vladimir Putin against Ukraine once again monopolizes the agenda of the regular meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers to be held this Monday in Brussels. The main item on the agenda is the plan drawn up by the head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell, to launch a system of joint purchase of artillery ammunition to help Kiev, with an endowment of 2,000 million euros. An initiative that has broad support among the Twenty-seven, although Germany has already announced that it is standing out and that it will contract the howitzers on its own.

In the meeting on Monday, the virtual participation of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, to inform Europeans of the latest developments on the war front. The Ukrainian government has asked the EU to send it up to 250,000 shells per month to be able to stop the Russian forces and advance in a counteroffensive. Russian forces are firing up to 50,000 rounds a day in what has become a war of attrition with kyiv running out of shells.

Borrell’s plan is based on three pillars that he maintains are “complementary” and must be executed “in parallel.” The most immediate thing is to get the European governments to urgently send to Ukraine the howitzers they still have in their reserveseither Western or Soviet.

[La UE destinará 2.000 M a enviar munición a Kiev: “Tenemos que tener una mentalidad de guerra”]

To push the capitals, the EU will mobilize a new tranche of 1,000 million of euros of your Peace Support Fund, in order to cover between 50% and 60% of the cost. There is consensus among the Twenty-seven on this first pillar, but the problem is that stocks are already exhausted or at the limit in most countries (with few exceptions such as Greece). “We were not prepared for this war of attrition, the expectation was that if there was a war, it would be short and high-tech,” says a diplomat.

Secondly, Borrell wants to launch a massive joint purchase program for ammunition of 155 caliber artillery, adding the war needs of Ukraine and the replenishment of stocks of the Member States. The head of European diplomacy had initially proposed that the purchase be made centrally through the European Defense Agency (EDA). But Germany has already communicated to its partners that it prefers to go on its own and not through the AED.

Olaf Scholz’s Government It argues that it is already negotiating with its arms industry to extend existing contracts in order to speed up the supply of howitzers to Ukraine. The national route is less bureaucratic and faster to resort to the European Defense Agency, which has no experience and is starting from scratch, argues Berlin. Of course, Scholz is willing to incorporate other interested Member States into his contract.

In view of Germany’s reservations, the EU has opted for a Solomonic solution. At the meeting on Monday it will be agreed that the two options are available, both the European Defense Agency and the coalitions of Member States, so that each country chooses what it prefers. The EU budget for joint purchases will be another 1,000 million euros.

[La UE quiere que su industria armamentística pase a un modo de “economía de guerra”]

The European Defense Agency has identified 15 companies from 11 Member States that can manufacture 155 caliber howitzers, including two Spanish ones: Expal and the Granada Ammunition Factory. To speed up the deadlines, the AED will resort to a negotiated procedure without bidding. The goal is that the first orders are placed at the end of Mayalthough those responsible for the Agency admit that it is a “very ambitious” calendar. The average delivery time is one year.but Borrell is confident that with the joint purchase the times and also the price will be reduced.

The third pillar of Borrell’s plan is the one that generates the most controversy. Consists in expanding the production capacity of the European arms industry, using community funds with a model similar to advance purchase contracts with the vaccine against Covid-19. The head of community diplomacy also wants to mobilize the European Investment Bank.

Germany does not want to make any commitment now to inject European funds into the military industry and asks to postpone the decision until it has more concrete proposals from Brussels. However, Borrell argues that the three pillars of your plan are inseparable: Governments will only deliver their last stocks of ammunition to Ukraine if they have guarantees that the industry will be able to manufacture sufficient quantities in acceptable terms.