EU proposes setting up €40bn military fund for Ukraine, overriding Hungary’s veto, Euractiv says
Pravda Ukraine
The European Union has proposed that a fund be established to voluntarily provide Ukraine with military assistance ranging from €20 billion to €40 billion, circumventing a potential veto by Hungary.
Source: Euractiv, an EU-focused news and analysis website, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Last month, the European External Action Service proposed an EU-level initiative to supply Ukraine with additional ammunition. However, the text of the proposal, seen by Euractiv, did not specify the funding required for its implementation.
Given Hungary’s continued refusal to support Ukraine, the proposal has been rewritten so that “participating member states” could join in.
The latest version of the proposal states that countries “are encouraged to deliver military support to Ukraine in 2025 with a provisional value of at least €20 billion, and potentially reaching €40 billion pending Ukrainian needs”.
As a first step, the text suggests that the leaders of the participating countries should agree to allocate €5 billion to procure 2 million large-calibre artillery shells in 2025.
Each country will contribute according to its economic capacity, either in cash or in kind. The EU plans to count €1.9 billion from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets as its share, even if these funds have already been committed and partially disbursed.
The initiative’s priorities should centre on large-calibre artillery ammunition, air defence systems, missiles, drones, fighter aircraft, etc.
The text was handed over to EU countries on Thursday 13 March ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers scheduled for Monday 17 March.
EU leaders will gather for a summit next week, primarily to discuss aid to Kyiv and the strengthening of EU defence capabilities.
The deadline for countries to express interest in joining the programme is 30 April.
Background: Following a European Council meeting on 6 March, several EU member states announced a commitment to allocate up to €15 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, European Council President António Costa said earlier.
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