The Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, repeats it as soon as he has the opportunity: to repel the Russian forces, and to launch its own counter-offensives, his country needs 350,000 artillery shells per month, three times more than now. Problem, this represents twice the European production. Responding to this demand would therefore be tantamount, for member countries, to quickly depleting their stocks, with the risk of jeopardizing their own security. To resolve this delicate equation, the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of the European Union met on Monday 20 March to draw up a plan for the future. To the delight of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kouleba, they agreed to supply shells taken from their stocks and place orders jointly. Also, they agreed to develop the production capacities of the Old Continent.
An envelope of two billion euros released
The envelope of two billion euros, which will be released within the FEP – a European fund intended to finance external actions of the EU in the military field – is distributed as follows: one billion will be devoted to joint purchases of 155mm shells and missiles. The former are particularly crucial, because they are essential for the proper functioning of the equipment sent by the United States and the Europeans to Kiev, such as the Himars rocket launchers or the Cesar guns. The other billion will be used to reimburse Member States who take ammunition from their stocks or their current orders (with a reimbursement rate of up to 60%).
The Twenty-Seven agree to coordinate to shorten to six months the time between the moment of the order and the delivery (it is more than a year today), but also to produce more in the future. This is the third part of the agreement, because, as the European Commissioner for Defence, Thierry Breton, says “whatever the outcome of the war, we will have to deal with Ukraine, a candidate for accession to the European Union, to have a level of armament which takes into account the increase in borders with Russia”.
To do this, an envelope of 500 million euros helping to invest in the production of ammunition will be released in the European budget. Finally, the French commissioner presented to the ministers meeting on Monday a map on which are presented fifteen companies producing 155mm shells, spread over eleven countries. They would, he said, be able to produce more ammunition. The work to come is nonetheless daunting, with the European Commission having to identify bottlenecks, reorganize supply chains and production sectors. This file with multiple entries will be submitted to the appreciation of the Heads of State and Government meeting this Thursday in Brussels.