BRUSSELS: The European Union will propose the joint financing of agreed common arms purchases as is the case for ammunition, local media reported on Tuesday. The suggestion is being discussed amid war in Ukraine. Earlier, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said that the threat of war may not be imminent. She added that it is time for the Europeans to boost.
She added that there was need to reconstruct and modernize member nations’ defense following decades of trimmed funds after the ex-Soviet Union’s collapse in the 90s.
The conflict in Kyiv has forced EU to innovate, and an EU defence policy to be presented Tuesday by commissioner Thierry Breton borrows from several mechanisms already put in position.
Breton said that they would do it with artillery munitions, they should now be in position to do it for all equipment essential for their security. Brussels will also purpose a European mechanism for weapons sales similar to the US one, local media maintained.
Several EU nations, including France, are proposing common borrowing as occurred during the Covid pandemic. But other nations, like Germany, view that as pointless.
To defuse the debate, von der Leyen has proposed using windfall profits generated from Moscow assets frozen in the European Union, which Greece’s special ambassador for Ukraine Spiros Lampridis said could come to around 50 billion euros.
