There are proposals in EU to allow purchase of ammunition for Ukraine outside EU – media

KYIV. March 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A number of EU countries want to buy ammunition for Ukraine outside the bloc if the European Union cannot produce them sufficiently and quickly at its enterprises, EURACTIV reported on Friday.

The portal said that some EU member states want to be allowed to purchase ammunition for Ukraine outside the union if Europe cannot produce them at home and quickly.

“We don’t know if the European industry can produce according to the needs. If it’s not able to do it fast and in big amounts, we should be allowed to look towards third countries,” one EU diplomat told EURACTIV.

In particular, in this case, we can talk about the United States and South Korea.

Last week, EU defense ministers reached an agreement that EUR 1 billion from the European Peace Fund (EPF) will be used to supply ammunition to Ukraine from existing arsenals. However, three unnamed EU diplomats told Euractiv that discussions are continuing on how to use another EUR1 billion.

On Friday, negotiations on joint EU purchases of ammunition for Ukraine will continue. However, the questions of whether EU countries can purchase ammunition from outside countries and what part of the total funds can be used for this remain unresolved. It is also not yet clear who should be responsible for joint purchases – the European Defense Agency or a specific country.

According to the portal, earlier Poland, the Netherlands, the Baltic states indicated that the supply of ammunition to Kyiv may be delayed even more due to the lack of industrial capacity in Europe. However, France, Greece and Cyprus insisted that in this situation the EU should send funds only to the military-industrial complex in the countries of the bloc.

The EU authorities have previously identified 15 enterprises in 11 countries of the Union that can produce 155 mm shells, and five manufacturers of 152 mm shells of the Soviet era. Currently, Thierry Breton, a member of the European Commission on the Internal Market, is traveling to countries capable of increasing military production: he visited Bulgaria and later has to go to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, France and Romania.

As expected, on March 20, the heads of the Foreign and Defense Ministries of the bloc countries will approve plans for the supply of ammunition to Kyiv. They should receive final approval at the EU summit on March 23-24.