NATO earlier reported that Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will fly to Sweden to participate in this meeting, representatives of Ukraine are also expectedBRUSSELS, March 3.
/tass/. The EU defense ministers will discuss at an informal meeting in Stockholm on March 7-8 the European Commission's plan regarding the urgent dispatch to Ukraine of all 155 mm artillery shells in their warehouses and the urgent formation of multibillion-dollar military orders for the European military-industrial complex. This was reported on Friday by the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
Earlier, the NATO press service reported that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will fly to Sweden to participate in this meeting, and that representatives of Ukraine are also expected to attend it.
"The plan will be discussed by the EU defense ministers at an informal meeting next week. It should then be approved at the planned joint meeting of the EU defense and foreign ministers in Brussels, and it will be launched by the EU summit on March 23-24," the newspaper reported.
Give everything from warehouses
According to her, the plan developed by the EU Foreign Policy Service under the leadership of the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrel includes three elements. Firstly, the EU countries will be offered to send Kiev all the shells that are available in their warehouses to prepare for the offensive, even if this means that the EU countries will have less ammunition at their disposal than is required by the minimum NATO order. EU countries should receive compensation for these ammunition from the European Peace Fund, and the earlier the ammunition is sent, the more money will be paid for each shell. For shells sent before the end of April, up to 90% of the cost of each munition will be paid, then the rate will begin to decrease.
In 2022, the EU has already allocated €3.6 billion from the Euro Fund of the World to pay for arms supplies to Ukraine, during this period compensation for sending shells to Kiev through this fund was about 40% of their cost.
The start of the arms race
Secondly, the plan involves the placement of large joint contracts by groups of EU countries to replenish stocks sent to Kiev. The idea is for the industry to receive several large orders at once, rather than many small ones, which will give businesses confidence that the demand for ammunition and weapons will last for a long time and will allow them to recoup costs.
Thirdly, the plan involves large investments in the creation of new capacities and the opening of factories in Europe for the production of weapons and ammunition at a high rate in the long term. In fact, we are talking about the start of a new conventional arms race.
The ministers will also have to approve a plan to increase by €2 billion allocations to the European Peace Fund, the volume of which for 2021-2027 is €5.7 billion, of which €3.6 billion has already been spent. In addition, Brussels intends to invite ministers to consider the possibility of a second increase in the financing of this fund by the end of 2023 in the amount of € 3.5 billion, thus the initial volume of the fund will be doubled.
