European Commission will allocate € 500 million to urgently deliver ammunition to Ukraine and boost E.U. defence industry
The European Commission has adopted the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) to urgently deliver ammunition and missiles to Ukraine and to help Member States refill their stocks.
Together with this regulation, the European Commission proposes to allocate a budget of € 500 million in current prices to strengthen the European Union’s (E.U.’s) production capacity in ammunition, missiles and their components. This budget comes from the redeployment of different instruments, in particular the European Defence Fund and the future EDIRPA.
ASAP aims at ramping up the E.U.’s production capacity and addressing the current shortage of ammunition and missiles as well as their components. It will support the destocking from Member States and the joint procurement of ammunition.
Taking it to twitter, the President of the European Commission – Ursula von der Leyen tweeted,
Ukraine is heroically resisting the brutal Russian invader. We stand by our promise to support Ukraine and its people, for as long as it takes.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 3, 2023
But Ukraine’s brave soldiers need sufficient military equipment to defend their country.
Europe is stepping up its support on 3… pic.twitter.com/FImB7SSkHp
She further tweeted,
1. Member States supply ammunition from their existing stocks
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 3, 2023
2. We will procure jointly more ammunition for Ukraine
3. We are ramping up and speeding up industrial production of ammunition in Europe
To supply more ammunition for Ukraine and strengthen our EU defence… pic.twitter.com/HjKFl43Gf0
The ASAP comprises measures to support the industrial reinforcement of ammunition and missile production in the E.U., including their input products. Financial support will be provided in the form of grants to various types of actions contributing to the efforts of the European defence industry to increase their production capacities and tackle identified bottlenecks
This Act will ensure the necessary information gathering at the E.U. level and enable the European Commission and Member States to anticipate shortages affecting the security of the supply of ammunition and missiles. The European Commission will conduct a mapping exercise with Member States to identify and continuously monitor the availability of ammunition and missiles as well as their components and their corresponding inputs.
The regulatory measures foreseen under this Act will protect the Internal Market from any current or potential identified malfunctioning and strengthen the resilience of the E.U.’s Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), as well as guarantee the security of the supply of ammunition and missiles.
Going ahead, the European Commission has adopted this proposal for a Regulation as a matter of high priority and will transmit it to the co-legislators. The European Commission counts on a swift adoption, before the summer of 2023, to be able to initiate support for the ramping up of the E.U.’s defence industry production capacities of ammunition and missiles. The instrument will cease to apply in mid-2025.
