German authorities are seeking to reduce their €20 billion contribution to the EU fund for Ukraine due to significant bilateral military aid.
Germany intends to reduce its contribution to the European Peace Fund (EPF), which is used for military aid to Ukraine. As The Daily Telegraph reports, citing confidential documents, Berlin believes the fund should consider the billions in military aid it sends to Kyiv as part of bilateral cooperation.
It is noted that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, the EPF has provided Kyiv with weapons worth 4.5 billion euros and trained 34,000 Ukrainian military personnel as part of the EU mission.
Also in the document, German representatives said: “Military support for Ukraine can be provided either through financial contributions to the Ukrainian Fund in the EPF, or in the form of direct supplies of military equipment to Ukraine.” Germany is now the EU’s largest economy and contributes a quarter of the funds to the EPF. In November, German authorities pledged to double military aid to Ukraine by 2024, approving a package of 8 billion euros.
However, Germany often complains that the bloc’s member states abuse the EPF scheme by sending old weapons to Ukraine and using the refunds to modernize their armed forces.
Berlin’s stance has raised concerns in European capitals that Chancellor Olaf Scholz could block future EU attempts to support Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. In a separate document cited by The Daily Telegraph, France proposed suspending arms transfers from member states’ stockpiles and instead focusing on “general procurement” of military aid from arms manufacturers in Europe. Before this, the only opponent of the creation of the fund was the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Hungarian authorities have offered to make contributions to the EPF on a voluntary basis.
Let’s remember that in October, EU foreign ministers did not agree on the allocation of a tranche of 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund for military aid to Ukraine. The decision was blocked by Hungary.
On Saturday, it was reported that Ukraine received a package of military aid from Germany. This includes thousands of 155 mm artillery shells and a batch of ammunition for sniper rifles.
New Correspondent.net on Telegram and WhatsApp. Subscribe to our channels Athletistic and WhatsApp
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.