On Tuesday, 19 July, the European Commission launched a new instrument for joint procurement in the area of arms in order to help Member States rebuild their stocks.
Numerous Member States sent military equipment to Ukraine and now face shortfalls and, beyond that, vulnerabilities.
The objective of the instrument, which was announced in May (see EUROPE 12955/1), is to foster cooperation among Member States on defence public procurement—“contributing to solidarity, interoperability, [and the] prevention of crowding-out effects; avoiding fragmentation; and increasing the effectiveness of public spending”, according to the European Commission. The instrument will also enhance the competitiveness and efficiency of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base.
The European Commission proposes committing €500 million from the EU budget to this new instrument from 2022 to 2024. “Neither the [European] Commission nor the [European] Union will buy arms. The [European] Union’s budget is only being used to encourage Member States to cooperate”, Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton explained to the media, adding that the budget was retroactive to 24 February, the start of the war in Ukraine.
The instrument will support the actions of a consortium composed of at least three Member States, “and the more Member States the project covers, the greater the amount of support will be so as to provide a progressive leverage effect”, according to Mr Breton. The eligibility criteria will be the same as those used for the European Defence Fund, which notably means that the companies must be based in the EU and under European control or, by way of derogation, companies based in the EU that are under foreign control but meet very strict security criteria.
According to Mr Breton, while the programming will be determined in due course with Member States, the instrument could concern light artillery (howitzers and their shells) and heavier artillery (French Caesar or Polish Krab 155-mm cannons) as well as man-portable air-defence systems and anti-tank guided missiles—very large numbers of both of these systems having been sent to Ukraine.
Mr Breton specified that defence products purchased with EU support would not be subject to any usage restrictions on export. When EUROPE asked him about the link between this instrument and the European Peace Facility and about the possibility that equipment benefiting from the instrument would then be sent abroad, Mr Breton did not answer directly. “They are complementary. One made it possible to create the flow [of stocks to Ukraine], and the other, to replenish it”, he explained. However, he also acknowledged, “Perhaps these stocks will go to Ukraine”.
In concrete terms, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council [of the EU] establishing the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through common Procurement Act (EDIRPA) for 2022–2024. This regulation will have to be agreed upon by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. “Responding to the urgency of the situation [...], [the European] Commission [is counting] on a swift adoption in order to be able, by the end of 2022, to support Member States [in] addressing their most urgent and critical defence product needs in a cooperative manner”, explains the European Commission’s press release.
“This is a pilot project we are undertaking; the ambition is to go further, with a permanent instrument”, indicated Mr Breton, adding that work on this instrument would begin after the summer.
See the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/2ot (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)