The meeting participants will also discuss EU military operationsSTOCKHOLM/BRUSSELS, March 7.
/tass/. The defense ministers of the 27 EU countries, with the participation of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian partners, will discuss at a two-day informal meeting opening in Stockholm on Tuesday the possibility of sending most of the remaining ammunition stocks to Ukraine. In the future, we will also talk about expanding the production of all major types of conventional weapons in the EU countries.
According to the program of the meeting, which is reported by the Swedish presidency of the EU, the defense ministers will first discuss military support to Ukraine, especially the training of the Ukrainian military by the EU mission, which should train 30 thousand people. The heads of defense departments will also have to agree on financing joint purchases of artillery ammunition for Kiev. The meeting participants will also discuss current affairs, including EU military operations.
The meeting will begin late in the evening with a working dinner behind closed doors, the main working session will be held on Wednesday. The Ukrainian side will be represented by Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov.
As the Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported on March 3, defense ministers will have to consider a plan prepared by the EU Foreign policy service for the urgent dispatch of all 155 mm artillery shells to Ukraine from warehouses and the emergency formation of multibillion-dollar military orders for the European military-industrial complex. According to the publication, then the plan should be approved at a planned joint meeting of defense and foreign ministers in Brussels, and it will be launched at the EU summit on March 23-24.
According to the newspaper, the plan includes three elements. First, the EU countries will be offered to send Kiev almost all of their stocks of shells to prepare for the offensive, even if this means that the EU states will have less ammunition at their disposal than is required by the minimum requirements of NATO. 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 ammunition will be paid, then the percentage 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.
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.
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.
