In the European Parliament, the intervention of the High Representative for EU foreign policy, Borrell, who begs and accuses: “We spent too much time discussing while he was preparing his offensive. And now, for the first time, they have more troops in the field”. NATO countries have partnered with the military materials industry to increase production. But the gap between promises and deliveries remains
Suddenly Europe found in one the race against time: We need guns, we need ammunition. Also because, as the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union says Joseph Borrell Before the European Parliament, for the first time since the beginning of the war, Ukraine “has no advantage more troops on the ground compared to Russia”, because Moscow sides 360 thousand soldiers, twice as many as before the conflict began. “We want Ukraine to win the war. It’s still part of the European family, but we hope it finds the future it needs in Europe,” Borrell prays. “The maximum is not enough,” he continues, and we need to increase military aid because “the war will be decided this spring and summer” (and Borrell’s argument is that just military enforcement brings you to a shop comes ). Spring and summer will be crucial, he says. The Spanish politician partly begs, partly he accuses: “We have discussed for too long whether we supply the famous Leopard tank while Russia prepared its offensive. We spent too much time debating decisions that should have been made before we were afraid to engage in pseudo-belligerence. But we said we would supply tanks and WW3 didn’t start. Yes, the tanks are here and it will take some time to arrive. But time is of the essence and time is measured in lives lost.” The words sound to the same music as Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, who has been warning for days that ammunition is running out and is pushing for tanks. The countries of the Atlantic Pact have renewed their commitment to work with industry Increase ammo production.
Today Stoltenberg confirmed with a longer horizon that an issue of 2 percent of GDP in favor of defense spending for NATO countries must be “the point of departure, not the point of arrival”. And for many allies, including the same ones Italy, means a considerable effort. “Our country is now below the 2 percent target and is committed to achieving it by a date that varies by government and by NATO meeting,” the minister said Guido Crosetto. “I – he adds – brought up the issue of combining the 2% commitment with the limits of the European parameters that force such a choice over other cuts”. The more or less tight shirt of the Stability Pact – that’s what we’re talking about – only applies to those among the allies who are also members of the European Union, and it remains to be seen whether the issue can also apply at NATO level. “Some countries that have already reached the 2 percent target have proposed targets of 3 to 4 percent,” Crosetto underscored, just to help people understand what the situation is like.
There Poland hey Baltic countries, for example, are (literally) at loggerheads with massive armaments programs, particularly in the case of Warsaw, which is becoming the battleship of the East and an increasingly privileged US partner. US Secretary Lloyd Austin III one thing is clear: “We will have to spend more on our common defence”. And given that America covers that up 50 percent of the cost NATO will probably become this polite “we will”. Vilnius – where the NATO summit is scheduled – in an understandable “you will have to”. There Germany has already announced itself 100 billion euros in military investments while the France will increase its military budget by 118 billion (spread over seven years). However, to enter the NATO counts you need i contractsnot the statements. The reality is that according to data from 2022 only 9 out of 30 allies they lay over the famous threshold. According to various allied sources quoted by the Ansa news agency, from here to Vilnius, attention will focus heavily on the “as” spend the money, beyond the percentage. “What has to count is that operability, not so much a number for a number,” notes a senior diplomat. Then the foreign assignments should be taken into account – now they are not – and other points. The debate is open. Be that as it may, those capitalists who haven’t already done so will probably have to open their wallets too.
But the most urgent problem comes from today, at the latest from tomorrow. Spring and summer, as Borrell says and as Crosetto has said in the last few days. And words are one thing, deliveries another. The Minister of Defense of Portugal Helena Carreirasat the edge of the top of the Born To Brussels, stated quite clearly that Stoltenberg’s appeals reached the senders, but on the other hand “it is impossible for Portugal to send more arms to Ukraine”. Lisbon will send the Leopard 2, provide all the necessary training for the Ukrainian army and work with Germany to have the tanks on the ground by the end of March. But Carreiras emphasizes that it is important to strike a balance between aid to Ukraine “and the storage of the our defense capability“. In January, after an initial commitment from the Secretary of State to send tanks, the Department of Defense announced that most 37 Leopard 2 were delivered to the Portuguese Army unusable and they required major repairs and maintenance.
And problems of this kind are not only throwing small countries into crisis, but also those who hold the leadership of the European Union – won on the field. It is Le Figaro, a conservative newspaper, to write that the armed forces of France they face each other a lack of ammunition. “Our ground forces face a shortage of 155mm ammunition used in howitzers and artillery pieces,” says the French MP Julien Rancoule (of the right-wing Rassemblement National), who wrote a report on the country’s ammunition reserves. “Tensions between those in favor of supporting Ukraine and those who want to protect their supplies National security they could grow,” Rancoule emphasizes.
As for the tanks, summarizes the German defense minister Boris Pistorius According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “we will not reach the strength of a battalion” of Leopard 2A6 tanks for Ukraine. At the moment there is talk of a demi-battalion. To put things in order: In addition to the 14 tanks promised by the armed forces, only Portugal is already ready to deliver three more tanks of the 2A6 model. Instead, a Ukrainian battalion is formed 31 tanks in total. THE Netherlands had hypothesized that 18 Leopard 2A6s would be sent to Kiev, which the Dutch Army had borrowed from the German Army, but not only was no request made, these tanks could not be sent because it would pose a risk further weakening the readiness for action armed forces“. Poland is preparing to send another 14 Leopard tanks to Kiev, but of the 2A4 type.
In the background the United States. It is yesterday’s news assigned by the US military $522 million on orders to two companies to manufacture 155mm artillery ammunition, which will be available from March. But meanwhile a poll by theAssociated Press- Norc Center for Public Affairs Research notes that American support for arms sales to Ukraine is weakening: 48% of respondents support arms sales, a figure that has fallen from 66% last May, ie less than three months after the start of the war. The poll, the Guardian reports, shows that 29% of respondents are opposed to arms sales, while 22% are neither for nor against. How long this balance between public opinion and American administration will last remains to be seen.
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In the photo above – The handshake between NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III at the NATO summit in Brussels