The Diplomat
Spain’s Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, yesterday supported before her EU counterparts the joint procurement of ammunition through the European Defense Agency (EDA).
Robles participated yesterday in Stockholm in the second day of the informal meeting of the European Union Defense Ministers, convened by the Swedish Presidency of the EU and by the High Representative, Josep Borrell, in the framework of the Foreign Affairs Council. The meeting began on Tuesday with a working dinner at Karlberg Castle and continued yesterday with several working sessions.
At the first session, the defense ministers received a first-hand update on the situation in Ukraine from Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who called for urgent material needs to continue defending against the invading Russian forces.
A proposal by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Defense Agency and the European Commission to accelerate the production and delivery of 155 millimeter artillery ammunition to Ukraine from Member States’ stocks, to undertake joint procurement of ammunition by the EDA and to increase the production capacity of the European industry was discussed yesterday. According to the Spanish Ministry of Defense, the ministers assessed “possible options to accelerate the distribution and joint procurement of military materiel, as well as to enhance the increase of European production capacity.”
The EDA is responsible for supporting European defense cooperation projects, while the European Peace Support Fund (EPSF) is a program outside the EU budget and fed by contributions from the Member States, with which it has financed the delivery of weapons to Ukraine for a total value of 3.6 billion euros to date.
During her speech, the Minister stressed the importance and the leading role that, for these purposes, the European Defence Agency should have and the importance of the European Peace Fund “as an instrument of solidarity”. “Our main objective is to ensure that we are capable of sustaining this effort over time by attending to various aspects: reception, humanitarian aid, military supplies and training,” she continued. He also recalled that Spain has already taken in “more than 500 Ukrainian soldiers in different modules at the Toledo Training Coordination Center and has demand to extend the training to another 500 troops”.
The purchase of ammunition
Last February 20, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced in Brussels, after the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), the support of Spain and of “the majority” of the EU Member States to a proposal of Estonia for the joint purchase of ammunition to supply the Ukrainian Army.
Specifically, the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, proposed – through a scheme of work similar to that followed with the acquisition of vaccines against COVID-19 – the possibility of mobilizing 4,000 million euros, through the European Peace Facility, to acquire around one million rounds of 155 millimeter artillery shells. Josep Borrell that day transferred the Estonian proposal to the ministers of the 27 Member States, who postponed any decision on the matter, precisely, to the meeting of the defense chiefs held this week in Stockholm.
Robles also assured that Spain supports “the reinforcement” of the missions and operations of the European Union, warned of the need to help the Malian people and confirmed the interest of the next Spanish Presidency of the EU to give a “decisive impulse” to the Strategic Compass, the main European instrument to offer a response to the challenges and threats to security.
The meeting concluded with a working lunch in the presence of NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and the UN Deputy Secretary General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, with whom they discussed the presence of state and non-state actors in different theaters of operations, the EU’s commitments regarding its presence in the southern eastern neighborhood and Russian and Chinese influence on the international scene, among other issues.
