The European Commission is preparing legislative proposals that will allow to increase the production of ammunition in the countries of the association as quickly as possible, said the head of the EC Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference following the first day of the EU summit.

According to her, this must be done in order to transfer 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine during the year.

"I welcome the achievements of the Council of Foreign Ministers (EU. — RT) an agreement on the supply of Ukraine with 1 million ammunition over the next 12 months. Of course, in order to achieve this, we must very significantly increase the production capacity for the production of shells in Europe. The Commission will come up with a legal proposal that will increase the industrial production of ammunition," she said.

As von der Leyen specified, such a legal proposal may provide for the allocation of funds from the EU budget.

"We are talking here about the construction, expansion and re-profiling of production facilities, as well as strengthening the entire ammunition supply chain so that it functions quickly," the functionary explained.

At the press conference, the head of the EC also spoke about the possible content of the 11th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. According to her, it will mainly be aimed at combating the circumvention of the already introduced restrictive measures.

  • Ursula von der Leyen
  • AP
  • © Olivier Matthys

On the same day, the EU summit adopted a joint statement by the leaders of the EU member states, in which they expressed support for the plan for the accelerated transfer of ammunition to Ukraine.

"Taking into account the security and defence interests of all Member States, the European Council welcomes ... agreement on the speedy supply of surface-to-surface ammunition and artillery ammunition to Ukraine, as well as, upon request, missiles, including through joint purchases and mobilization of appropriate financing, including through the European Peace Fund, with the aim of jointly providing 1 million artillery ammunition over the next 12 months," the document says.

At the same time, the statement emphasizes that such deliveries should be carried out "without prejudice to the specifics of the security and defense policy of certain EU member states."

It is worth noting that the leadership of the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that Western arms supplies to Ukraine only prolong the conflict. However, in their statement, the leaders of the European Union promised to continue to provide Ukraine with all kinds of assistance, including political, economic, humanitarian and military. In addition, they announced their intention to support the "Ukrainian reforms" necessary for the country's accession to the European community.

At the same time, EU leaders called on all countries not to provide Moscow with material or other forms of assistance.

"Huge administrative problem"

According to analysts, plans to transfer 1 million ammunition to Ukraine and increase the production of weapons are being implemented against the backdrop of calls in the EU to transfer the European economy to a military track. Thus, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton in early March noted that EU defense companies should switch to the "regime of the war economy."

According to the politician, funds for these purposes should be taken, including from the EU budget. Breton also called for easier access to European Investment Bank funds for the defense industry.

Similar proposals were made in March by the head of the foreign policy service of the European Union, Josep Borrell. He proposed a three-point plan for the supply of shells to Ukraine, which involves the urgent shipment of ammunition from existing stocks for € 1 billion, the provision of emergency purchases for another € 1 billion and an increase in arms production.

  • Josep Borrell
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  • © Geert Vanden Wijngaert

Politico calls the EU plans to increase the volume of military production ambitious, but notes that Brussels may face a number of difficulties on this path. So, one of the first challenges may be to agree on the requirements for military orders so that they correspond to artillery guns and tanks sent to Kiev, since not all 155-mm shells are the same. In addition, the publication notes, an important factor may be the current overload of a complex supply chain due to global demand for raw materials.

Politico called politically sensitive the question of who should manage the joint order for the production of military products: the EU or a separate country? In accordance with the strategy proposed by Thierry Breton and Josep Borrell, the European Defense Agency will serve as the information center and customer. However, there is an opinion in Europe that this small intergovernmental body does not have experience in managing such complex contracts.

The weakest element of the EU investment plan to increase the production of ammunition, according to Politico, is the financing of these projects from the general budget of the EU or the European Peace Fund. Journalists of the publication believe that the issue of allocating funds may become the subject of lengthy negotiations within the European Union.

In addition, the track record of European cooperation in the field of armaments "still leaves much to be desired," Jan Pi, executive director of the European Aerospace and Defense Industry Association, said in an interview with Politico. According to him, regardless of the agreements within the EU, the final decision on the production of military products is made by a particular state.

"You can't just pour money into the system and expect production to increase in some way. It's a huge administrative problem," Pi said.

Thus, companies will need confidence that governments will make a multi-year commitment to significantly increase procurement to give an economic basis for expanding production capacity.

Meanwhile, European industrialists complain that they do not see real long-term deals that would allow them to expand production, despite the loud statements of politicians. Thus, the portfolio of orders for ammunition of the German company Rheinmetall increased by 40% in 2022, but the company states that they are still operating only at two-thirds of capacity, waiting for new state contracts.

"Undermines the stability of the European Union"

According to RISS expert Sergey Yermakov, the supply of 1 million ammunition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be a significant step on the part of the EU in the framework of heating up the Ukrainian conflict.

"It should be borne in mind that most EU countries are also members of NATO. Therefore, these states are under pressure on the issue of increasing military capabilities from two organizations at once. At the same time, the EU, as a political and economic structure, plays an even more important role in this process, "the expert said in a conversation with RT.

  • A soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine installs a German anti-tank mine DM22 in the Donbass
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  • © Efrem Lukatsky

At the same time, it is too early to talk about the full transition of the European Union to a military track, Yermakov believes.

"The transfer of the economy to a military regime is fraught with very serious economic costs and will have an extremely negative impact on the socio-political situation. To implement these plans, it is necessary that the governing bodies of the European Union show toughness. However, brussels is now demonstrating this approach," the analyst said.

He noted that the EU leadership in this matter ignores the opinion of residents of European countries.

"Now the information-propaganda and information-psychological campaigns are expanding in an unprecedented way, which are aimed at convincing the European man in the street of the need for such emergency measures. Therefore, the European media demonize the Russian Federation and frighten the world with the notorious "Russian military threat," Yermakov emphasized.

According to him, such a policy is a dead end that undermines the stability of the European Union itself and the well-being of the countries that are part of it.

In turn, Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the decisions of Western countries in the field of increasing arms production may indicate preparations for a long confrontation with Moscow and Beijing.

"For such an increase in production, the West has all the resources," the interlocutor told RT.

A similar point of view is shared by Sergey Yermakov.

"The militarization of the EU in these conditions is rather a long-term trend. Not least of all, this is due to the ambitions of the European Union itself, which declares that, in addition to the economic and political union, it is also becoming a full-fledged military bloc," the expert concluded.