BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a new 1.5 billion euro ($1.63 billion) defence industry programme, which would be financed from the European Union budget for the period between 2025 and 2027.
The new programme calls on the 27 EU members states to procure at least 40% of their defence equipment collectively by 2030 and aims to have the value of intra-EU defence trade to represent at least 35% of the EU defence market, it added.
“To increase European defence industrial readiness, member states need to invest more, better, together, and European,” the EU Commission said in a statement.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has prompted many European countries to increase defence spending, though EU officials have argued purely national efforts are less efficient and want EU bodies to play a greater role in defence industrial policy.
The EU Commission also seeks to help the European defence industry prepare better for existing and potential major challenges such as a sudden surge in demand for large amounts of artillery ammunition.
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The Commission also proposed to used a share of the profits made on frozen Russian assets to fund arms purchases for Ukraine.
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(Reporting by Andrew Gray, Bart Meijer and Inti Landauro; Editing by GV De Clercq And Tomasz Janowski)
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