Last month, the EU's diplomatic arm had proposed to set up an EU-level scheme to send 1.5 million ammunition rounds to Ukraine. The text seen by Euractiv did not feature any figure for the amount of cash needed to complete the job.
Considering Hungary's constant refusal to participate in any scheme that would support Ukraine, either militarily or non-militarily via the EU channels, the proposal was rewritten to include "participating member states".
The newest version of the proposal seen by Euractiv reads 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, leaders should agree on spending €5 billion for 2 million rounds of large-calibre artillery ammunition in 2025 in accordance, with the text proposes.
Each country would participate according to its economic weight, either via cash or directly in kind. The EU itself will count the €1.9 billion from its windfall profits from the Russian frozen assets as its contribution, even though they have already been committed and partly disbursed.
The priorities should be large-calibre artillery ammunition, air defence systems, missiles, drones, fighter jets, but also any support to the regeneration of brigades, which usually includes maintenance on equipment and non-lethal support.
The deadline for countries to express interest in joining the scheme is 30 April. Next week, the EU executive is planning on laying out the details of its plan to free up €800 billion for joint procurement of European defence equipment and boosting the industry production.
Posted by John3262005