Commission launches fund accelerating ammunition production for Ukraine

BRUSSELS - A

fund from the EU budget to co-finance the production of ammunition, new streamlined authorization procedures and the possibility of using part of the cohesion policy resources for national projects.

These are the main innovations contained in the new "Act in support of ammunition production (ASAP)", the plan proposed today by the European Commission to increase the production of ammunition in Europe to one million pieces a

.

The new plan "will help provide more munitions to Ukraine to defend its citizens and will also strengthen our European defense capabilities", said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, underlining that the initiative will mobilize, together with Member States,

.

“Ukraine is heroically resisting the brutal Russian invader and we keep our promise to support Ukraine and its people,

,” he continued, insisting on the need for Ukrainian soldiers to receive “sufficient military equipment to defend their country".

Europe, he recalled, "is strengthening its support on three axes" first of all by providing Kiev with "additional munitions from their existing stocks, with the new support of the European Peace Fund

1 billion euros".

"Secondly, together with the member states, we will jointly buy more ammunition for Ukraine and make available

for it, and today we are tackling the third pillar of the strategy: to increase and accelerate the industrial production of ammunition for defense in Europe".

The EU commissioner for the internal market,

, stated that "member countries who wish to do so will be able to use part of the funds from the Pnrr" for this purpose.

The Recovery Fund "was specifically built for three main actions: the green transition, the digital transition and resilience. Intervening promptly to support industrial projects moving towards resilience, including defence, is part of this third pillar", he highlighted the commissioner.

"We too in the Commission encourage the Member States to reach

: we must adapt to this new geopolitical configuration and we must approve this legislative package as soon as possible to allow the European defense industry, which has maintained its production capacity , to manufacture at least 1 million rounds of ammunition within the EU", continued Breton.

The effort is necessary "not only to help Ukraine but to strengthen the collective security of all of Europe: if we count Ukraine we have 4,000 km of borders with Russia".

"With our proposal we support production in Europe but

", the commissioner then specified, clearing the field of controversy.

"The industrial sector wants to increase production capacity but to do so we need to change parameters, switch to a war economy mode and we are far from having what it takes," he added.

"That's why we also need to strengthen supply chains, including powders and explosives: all members of the alliance for Ukraine do not have sufficient production capacity for munitions, including the US and others."