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For Ukraine, the rapid and unbureaucratic delivery of military goods is now crucial, said EU Ambassador Michael Clauß.
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
For months, the EU states have not been able to agree on new joint military aid for Ukraine.
Criticism of Berlin is now getting louder.
Rightly so?
Brussels - The federal government is defending its tough course in the negotiations over new EU funds for the supply of weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
“What is crucial for the country is the rapid and unbureaucratic delivery of military goods,” EU Ambassador Michael Clauß told the dpa after the latest fruitless round of talks.
Because bilateral support works particularly quickly and efficiently, it should also be counted as an equivalent contribution to the so-called European Peace Facility.
The background to the top German diplomat's statements was recently publicly expressed criticism from EU partners.
The federal government is accused of using its course to block an increase in EU funding for military aid.
The plan is to provide an additional five billion euros this year to enable EU member states to supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
According to normal EU rules, Germany, as the largest economy, would have to finance around a quarter of the funds, i.e. around 1.3 billion euros.
Germany is planning billions in military aid
However, the federal government wants to ensure in the negotiations that national support payments can be offset against EU contributions in the future.
This is relevant for Germany because it has already promised Ukraine more than seven billion euros in bilateral military aid this year.
The Federal Government also points out that Hungary has been blocking planned disbursements from remaining Peace Facility funds for months and could theoretically continue to do so in the future because it requires the consent of all member states for any disbursement decision.
The negotiations are further complicated by France's demand that in the future only weapons and ammunition produced in Europe should be financed with EU funds.
The government in Paris argues that the defense industry in the EU needs firm orders in order to be able to expand its production permanently.
Opponents of the regulation, however, argue that the first thing to do is to quickly support Ukraine.
Lithuania appeals to community spirit
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels about the dispute that has been going on for months: "Of course we can do things bilaterally, but for a country like mine it is much more difficult to support Ukraine bilaterally than in a Group of 27 .” It should actually take a matter of hours for the 27 EU countries to decide on a sum of five billion euros.
It is unfortunate that no solution can be found.
Russia continues to do everything it can to destroy Ukraine.
The European Peace Facility was created before the start of the war in Ukraine to provide military support to partner countries and was originally only endowed with around five billion euros for the period 2021-2027.
EU funding has already been significantly increased
However, due to the unexpected Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, these resources are far from sufficient.
The financial upper limit for spending has already been increased to around twelve billion euros.
To date, around 5.6 billion euros have been released for aid to the Ukrainian armed forces alone.
In addition to Ukraine, countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Lebanon and Mauritania also benefit from the peace facility to a much lesser extent.
dpa