On the final day of the Munich security conference, Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief of foreign affairs, warned that if the EU does not find a means to expedite the delivery of ammunition to Ukraine within weeks, the conflict will end.
A special meeting of EU defense ministers scheduled for March 8-9 will provide an opportunity for countries to offer ammunition from their existing stocks, he said, adding that it can take European armies up to 10 months to procure and receive a single bullet.
“We are in urgent combat mode,” he said. This ammunition shortage must be resolved soon; it is a matter of weeks. He stated that if it were not, the conflict would end.
Borrell will also present plans at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday to use the existing €3.6bn (£3.2bn) European peace facility for the EU to acquire ammunition jointly on the model of the procurement of vaccines during the Covid crisis, an idea originally proposed by Kaja Kallas, the prime minister of Estonia.
Borrell stated that the Estonian proposal would work in the medium term. But he believes that the urgency of the shortages necessitates that EU nations utilize existing inventories. “We must utilize what the member nations possess,” he said.
“Much more must be accomplished much more quickly. There is still much to accomplish. We must augment and expedite our military support. Currently, it takes the European army nearly ten months to acquire a 155mm caliber projectile, almost a year to acquire an air-to-air missile, and nearly three years to acquire a 155mm caliber air-to-air missile. This is not consistent with the war circumstance in which we find ourselves.”
EU military backing
Kallas stated that Russia was producing ammunition in three shifts and that Europe needed a similar war footing. She claimed that executives in the defense industry informed her that they had no directives from the EU.
Borrell stated that the lack of ammunition was because “we forgot about classical conflicts and were only engaged in technological Blitzkrieg and expeditionary forces.”
He stated that some European nations, such as Poland, had doubled their defense expenditures. While France was increasing its spending by 40%, from €39 billion to €59 billion.
He noted that defense remained a national state responsibility in the EU, but stated that if the EU increased defense expenditure with “everyone in their corner”, duplications would increase and loopholes would remain.
He added that the Ukraine conflict could inspire European defence cooperation by breaking taboos. But it would take time. He also decried a culture of delays that he said weakened the European Defense Agency’s coordination role.
“We have waited too long to make crucial decisions, such as supplying battle tanks,” he said, “when everyone knows that to win a classical war, a classical war with maneuvers of heavy weapons, you need battle tanks. You cannot win this conflict without these weapons.”
He stated that he was not seeking to militarise Europe. But rather argued for Europe to fulfill its responsibilities to become a strong and dependable ally of the United States.
Top diplomat calls Ukraine war “over” without EU military backing
Borrell stated that it was unlikely that Ukraine would join the EU shortly in response to pressure from Ukrainian lawmakers. However, Polish MEP Radosaw Sikorski proposed reverting to a previous model of EU membership accession in which Ukraine is granted political membership of the EU quickly and then has to fulfill the necessary criteria in a step-by-step process, a model last used when Spain joined the European Community in 1986.
Borrell added that the EU must do more to persuade the global south that Russia is an imperialist power. According to him, many nations in Latin America are anti-imperialist because they believe the West supported dictatorships in the past, and there is a comparable level of resentment in Africa. “Humans have both memories and emotions,” he continued.
Russia exploited these sentiments by assaulting French President Emmanuel Macron for comments implying he desired Russia’s defeat, stating that Moscow still remembered the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte and accusing Macron of engaging in double-dealing diplomacy with the Kremlin.
Macron informed Le Journal du Dimanche that France desired Russia’s humiliation in Ukraine, but never desired to “crush” Russia.
About ‘never’: France did not begin with Macron, and the state-revered remains of Napoleon are interred in the heart of Paris. France – and Russia – should comprehend,” said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry.
