EU fails to approve €5bn in ammunition for Ukraine - Bloomberg
The European Union failed to agree on the allocation of 5 billion euros for the procurement of ammunition for Ukraine.
According to Censor.NET, Bloomberg reports this with reference to sources.
"An EU summit in Brussels was unable to agree on delivering €5 billion ($5.4 billion) to secure ammunition for Ukraine this year, as members including France and Italy balked at committing to specific financial volumes, according to European diplomats familiar with the talks. A number of European leaders will meet again in Paris on March 27 to try to drive the process forward.
"According to European diplomats familiar with the talks, an EU summit in Brussels was unable to agree on delivering €5 billion ($5.4 billion) to secure ammunition for Ukraine this year, as members including France and Italy balked at committing to specific financial volumes, according to European diplomats familiar with the talks. A number of European leaders will meet again in Paris on March 27 to try to drive the process forward," the article says.
EU leaders argued over arms shipments to Ukraine and who would represent them in US-led diplomacy as the EU tries to formulate a strategy for Ukraine.
The day before, Kaja Kallas proposed that EU members provide up to €40 billion in military aid to Ukraine this year. The aid was to be voluntary, but members would be encouraged to contribute money or equipment in proportion to their economies. Several countries refused, so the discussion was narrowed to the munitions component.
According to the newspaper, France and Italy, which are the second and third largest economies in the EU, did not want to make too high figures public. Italy and other countries are asking for more technical and financial details, and the initiative is still being worked on.
French diplomats said they shared the goals of the effort, but the priority was to implement the EU's €18bn share of the G7 loan package for Ukraine.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo supported the initiative. According to him, many countries are not "performing adequately" in the context of weapons for Ukraine.
As reported earlier, Kallas called on the EU to allocate €5 billion for ammunition to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would be very grateful to Europe for support in the amount of at least €5 billion for the purchase of artillery shells.
