China News Agency, Berlin, March 21. According to German media reports, Germany will provide the European Union with a new rapid reaction force in 2025, the number of soldiers will be as high as 5,000.

　　German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels on the 21st that it was important to send a clear signal to the outside world that "we support each other," according to DPA.

Discussions on the day also included how to align the future of the EU and NATO "in order to act as forcefully and as coherently as possible."

　　Lambrecht said the new rapid reaction force was the "military core" of the planned draft security policy, which should include heavily rested EU battle groups and other armed forces and capabilities of member states.

The number of soldiers will be as high as 5,000.

　　The current EU battle group programme stipulates that two troops, each with roughly 1,500 soldiers each, must always be in a state of readiness, and these soldiers are rationed by different EU countries every six months.

Recently, however, there have been recurring problems in mustering enough troops.

　　In addition, Lambrecht said Germany would fund more than a quarter of additional EU support for Ukraine's armed forces.

She pointed out that it was right to continue to provide about 500 million euros in funding, with Germany sharing 26 percent of it.

　　The first 500 million euro package was approved at the end of February.

Of that, 450 million was used to deliver weapons and 50 million for other matters such as fuel and protective gear.

Continued 500 million euros in arms and equipment support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces was announced during the EU summit on the 11th.

　　Funding for the military support is understood to come from the so-called European Peace Fund.

This is a new EU financial tool that can also be used to enhance the capabilities of partner countries' armed forces.

It is reported that between 2021 and 2027, the Peace Fund will be allocated about 5 billion euros, which will be paid by EU member states.

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