The European Union is not fulfilling its promises to deliver one million artillery shells to Ukraine.
In March this year, the EU pledged to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine within 12 months, first from existing stockpiles, and then through joint purchasing agreements and increasing industrial capacity.
“More than half of this time has already passed, but the plan is only 30% complete and given the number of contracts signed so far, there is a risk that the supposed goal will not be achieved,” Bloomberg reports.
Sources cited by the portal say several EU member states have confidentially asked the EU Commissioner for Foreign Policy to extend the deadline.
The United States, which wants to increase its own production to around 1 million units per year by 2024, called on the EU to step up its efforts.
It should be noted that the conflict between Israel and Hamas poses additional risks to arms supplies to Ukraine.
“While Israel and Ukraine’s overall munitions requirements are currently not very similar, even removing from Kiev the small number of 155mm artillery shells that Israel needs is important given their limited numbers,” Bloomberg writes.
Ammunition for Ukraine
In March this year, European Union countries and Norway agreed on a plan to donate one million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year, drawing on their own supplies and joining forces to buy more.
The plan, approved by EU foreign and defense ministers, is based on a proposal by EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell to spend €1 billion on stockpiled missiles and €1 billion on joint procurement of ammunition through the European Defense Agency (EDA). .
Such a move is an important step in EU integration, as defense procurement in the European Union has so far been largely the responsibility of the governments of individual member states, Reuters notes.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
