At their EU Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 14 November, the European defence ministers will debate EU support for Ukraine, the day after their foreign affairs counterparts will have also discussed this issue.
The ministers will hold talks by videoconference with their counterpart Rustem Umerov and are expected to discuss the security commitments that the EU can make to Kyiv. At the end of October, the European Council had asked the High Representative of the Union to discuss this issue again in December.
“The aim of the discussion is to review all the commitments, to see how we can move forward together and what each Member State has done and is doing bilaterally with Ukraine, in order to come up with a comprehensive offer of both European and bilateral efforts”, explained a European diplomat on Friday 10 November.
Security commitments could include specific EU support under the ‘European Peace Facility’ (EPF). While the High Representative initially spoke of €20 billion over 4 years, on Friday a senior European official pointed out that no figure had been mentioned recently. “We want to secure an agreement to have a dedicated envelope for Ukraine in the EPF envelope, the figure will be decided in a second stage”, the official explained.
One diplomat pointed out that the nature of the requirements could change over the 4 years and that the figure of 20 billion was “a substantial level of commitment that merits consideration”.
The ministers could discuss as well the 8th tranche of aid to Ukraine from the European Peace Facility, worth €500 million, which is still being blocked by Hungary.
The EU Council could also take stock of the legislative act in support of ammunition production, with a view to delivering one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine by the end of March 2024. According to a senior European official, 300,000 artillery shells have already been delivered.
Asked about the slowness of the process, a senior European official said that it was known from the outset that the objective was ambitious. The official added that it was too early to say whether or not the objective will be achieved, but according to several European diplomats, it will be difficult.
The future of the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) could also be discussed. “EUMAM is working, we have met the target of 30,000 trained troops, and there are 10,000 more on the way”, the senior European official summed up. According to this official, the Europeans will focus on specialised training, aircraft maintenance at command posts and perhaps also on fighter jet pilot training. In addition, EUMAM will support the training of internal security services, as long as they are placed under the authority of the Ukrainian army.
Assistance with mine clearance could be mentioned as well, given that Ukraine is said to be the most heavily mined country in the world.
Rapid Reaction Force. During their lunch, the ministers are due to discuss the rapid reaction force, a few days after the first LIVEX exercise (see EUROPE 13273/33).
CSDP. As usual, the EU Council is expected to take stock of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations. In particular, it could discuss missions in the Sahel, at a time when the October European Council invited the High Representative and the Commission to present options for adapting EU action and the relevant instruments to the current situation in the region.
NATO. The EU Council will be preceded by an informal breakfast with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, in particular to discuss the resilience of critical infrastructures, notably energy and telecommunications. Mr Stoltenberg will visit the College of Commissioners on Wednesday 15 November.
EDA. The breakfast will be followed by the meeting of the Steering Board of the European Defence Agency (EDA). During this meeting, the ministers are expected to approve the capacity development priorities for 2023 and discuss their implementation. According to the EU Council, this document will serve as a reference for all EU defence initiatives and instruments and will help Member States to adapt to all levels of warfare, meeting the needs of high-intensity operations while providing the capacities required to support CSDP missions and operations and the future rapid deployment force.
The ministers will approve a joint declaration on access to funding for the defence technological and industrial base, emphasising the role it plays in implementing the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
They will also adopt the 2024 general budget, as well as the Agency’s staffing table and three-year planning framework. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)