EU foreign and defence ministers agreed on Monday 20 March on a three-part proposal by the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, to allow Europeans to send ammunition to Ukraine and to strengthen the European defence industry.
“Following my proposal, Member States agreed to deliver 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition within the next 12 months”, Borrell announced.
Ministers agreed to mobilise €1 billion from the European Peace Facility (EPF) for emergency deliveries to Ukraine of ammunition from existing stocks or by rerouting existing orders and delivered to Kyiv before 31 May 2023 (part 1 of the proposal).
€1 billion from the EPF will be spent on joint procurement, including 155 mm shells (part 2). In order to benefit from it, Member States will have to place their orders via the European Defence Agency or by groups, before 30 September, with European or Norwegian industries.
Under this framework, 17 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden) and Norway have signed the European Defence Agency (EDA) project agreement for the joint procurement of ammunition to assist Ukraine and to replenish their national stocks. The draft allows EU Member States and Norway to follow two routes: a two-year fast-track procedure for 155 mm artillery shells and a seven-year project for the procurement of several types of ammunition (from 5.56 to 155 mm) to replenish national stocks. According to the EDA, other Member States have already expressed their intentions to join the initiative in line with national procedures. The High Representative has estimated that over 20 countries could take part.
The reimbursement rates for ammunition via the ‘European Peace Facility’ will be 50–60%. “You can’t set a fixed rate, but it can provide an incentive to destock and make joint purchases. This helps to review if its business model is viable”, said a diplomat.
Finally, under the 3rd part, the EU Council invited the European Commission to come forward with “ specific proposals” to urgently support the build-up of European defence manufacturing capabilities, securing of supply chains, facilitate the efficacy of procurement procedures, address production capacity shortfalls and encourage investment, including, where appropriate, by mobilising the EU budget.
“Over the past 20 years and the end of the Cold War, Europeans have halved their military capacity and quadrupled their munitions production. They now have to increase it because the environment has changed so dramatically”, Borrell stressed.
In the note they approved, the ministers have called for the rapid implementation of all three parts, “which are interlinked and must be pursued in parallel and in a coordinated manner”. “We need to place orders and give strong enough signals to the industry to fulfil the orders and to go into even more of a ‘war economy’ mode”, explained one European diplomat.
Furthermore, according to the note, the EU Council agreed to consider a further increase of the overall financial ceiling of the EPF by €3.5 billion (at 2018 prices), as planned on 12 December 2022. According to the High Representative, who made it clear that no agreement had been reached on the subject, it could be discussed by the European Council on 23 and 24 March.
See the note on the delivery and joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine: https://aeur.eu/f/5wt (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)