Kyiv, Feb 6:
Kyiv could face delays in arms shipments because of Berlin’s opposition to a proposed overhaul of an EU military assistance fund, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing EU officials.
The European Peace Facility (EPF) was established in March 2021 under the Common Foreign and Security Policy in order to strengthen the European Union’s role as a global security provider. The EPF has a budget of 5.69 billion euros ($6 billion) for 2021?2027. Most of the fund’s money has already been earmarked to partially reimburse EU member states for the weapons they sent to Ukraine.
The EPF needs additional funding for EU states to be partly reimbursed for their arms deliveries. However, a proposed 5 billion euro injection is being delayed amid discussions on how to reform the fund, the newspaper reported.
“Brussels says: ‘Pay first, get refunded later,’” an EU official involved in the negotiations told the Financial Times.
However, Germany and other states advocating an end to the reimbursement model “are arguing they shouldn’t need to pay.” Berlin is reportedly under severe financial constraints after a constitutional court ruled against its budget measures. It is demanding that the cost of weapons supplied bilaterally to Kiev be counted towards its share of the fund. Smaller countries argue that this would drastically reduce the size of the fund.
In January, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a draft document, that the European External Action Service (EEAS) had proposed creating a special military fund for Ukraine, which would include about 6.5 billion euros from the assets of the extra-budgetary EPF. The EEAS also proposed allocating up to 5 billion euros per year to the fund from 2024 to 2027.
Western countries, including EU member states, have been providing financial and military aid to Kiev since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The EU has so far provided a total of almost 85 billion euros in humanitarian, economic, and military support to Ukraine and its people, the European Commission said in late December 2023.
