Germany wants to provide the new rapid reaction force for the European Union in 2025.
It is important to send a clear signal that we stand up for one another, said Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht on Monday at the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels.
Still to be discussed is how to combine the possibilities of the EU with those of NATO "in order to be able to appear as powerfully and consistently as possible".
According to Lambrecht, the new rapid reaction force is the "military core" of the planned security policy concept, which was discussed by the foreign and defense ministers of the EU states on Monday.
It is to consist of substantially modified EU battlegroups as well as other member states' armed forces and capabilities.
The size was last given with up to 5000 soldiers.
The previous EU Battlegroup concept provides for two units, each with a core of around 1,500 soldiers, to be made available at all times, who are made available by different EU states every six months.
Recently, however, there had always been problems getting enough troops together.
The EU forces have never been deployed.
According to Lambrecht, Germany will also finance more than a quarter of the additional EU support for the Ukrainian armed forces.
It is good and right that another program in the order of 500 million euros will be decided, she said.
Germany participates in it "on the order of 26 percent".
The additional 500 million euros to supply arms and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces was announced on March 11 on the sidelines of an EU summit in Versailles, France.
But they still have to be formally decided.
A first package of 500 million euros was approved at the end of February.
Of that amount, 450 million is reserved for arms supplies and 50 million for other things like fuel and protective equipment.
Technically, the money for the military support comes from the so-called European Peace Facility.
It is a new EU financing instrument that can also be used to strengthen the capabilities of armed forces in partner countries.
For the period from 2021 to 2027, the peace facility is endowed with around five billion euros, which will be paid in by the member states.