With the arms delivery to Kiev, the EU had already broken a taboo, because the contracts do not allow lethal instruments to be financed from the EU budget. Now, Borrell announces that “the first relief effort to provide lethal equipment to African partners, Niger and Somalia, will be adopted soon.” And Stoltenberg will urge leaders at the Vilnius summit in July to set 2% of GDP for defense spending, no longer as a target to be reached but as a minimum baseline
Increase the GDP intended for the purchase of weapons, to replenish the arsenals in Ukraine depleted by the war and to intervene in Africa, from where the crossing of the Mediterranean begins and where the presence of China and Russia is becoming increasingly difficult. In Europe and in Born it ran for rearmament. After the Ukraine conflict, the EU will continue to send weapons and thus finance them European Peace Fundnot just one Kyiv but also at the front in other partner states in the rest of the world Born for the 30 allied countries to invest the target set in 2014 2% of GDP for defense, it becomes the minimum base required by the alliance. A double message arriving on the same day from the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Borrellwho brought it together Schuman Forum on Defense and Security, and by the Secretary General of Born, Jens Stoltenberg, who presented the Allianz annual report. Already by sending weapons Kyiv The EU broke a taboo because i treated they do not allow to finance deadly tools with the European household. Hence the idea of using an intergovernmental fund – see European Peace Facility (Epf) – born with the intention of supporting them missions in third countries and emptied of the urgency to militarily support Ukraine: out of the 4.5 billion allocated so far for the seven-year period 2021-2027, 3.6 billion have been used to send military equipment there Kyivso much so that in december the Advise has decided to increase it by two billion, while there is already an agreement in principle between the conditions to add another 3.5 billion.
“What we did for Ukraine it can and will be done for others – announced Borrell –. The first relief effort to deliver deadly equipment to African partners, Niger And Somalia, will be adopted soon”. The idea is to use the Epf also for other partners who are “increasingly interested in them Support deadly“. For seventy years, this has been the message from the head of European diplomacy, vouched for by the EU, “born to solve internal European problems”. Peacemainly internally, and was squeezed between the two blocks of the Cold War. “Now theEuropean Union must do more than create peace between Europeans, but be an actor who can contribute to it World improve. now theEuropean Union must take himself Responsibility‘ remarked Borrell. In short, we have to “do this defense European become stronger and more effective” and “become a stronger and more valuable partner. Inside the Born definitely, but with the rest of the world”.
A need that has been expressed before Ukrainian conflict and which had led to the formulation of the compass strategically, with the creation of a rapid reaction force of 5,000 units. The aggression against Ukraine not only accelerated the process, but marked a turning point: le stockpiles of weapons were emptied and now the problem of increasing the production and keep pushing joint procurement. The same applies on the slopes Borncovering the majority of EU countries.
A few kilometers away from Borrell Forumat headquarters the alliancethe Secretary Stoltenberg has called on allies to do more on spending and announced that it will propose to leaders at the July summit Vilnius, set 2% of GDP for defense spending, no longer as a target to be achieved but as a minimum baseline. “Of the 2014The allies They have increased defense spending and we are moving in the right direction. But we are not moving as fast as the dangerous world we live in requires,” the former Prime Minister of Norway stressed. Of the 30 allies, only 7 exceeded the 2% target in 2022. Italy it is 1.51%. Defense spending has grown by 2.2% in real terms over the past year, and since the start of the conflict “many allies have also announced significant increases‘ Stoltenberg reminded, but ‘now these commitments have to be implemented contracts And equipment concrete“. The Ukraine conflict has changed the international scene, e.g the West can no longer watch, even more so when Russia And China should continue to approach, as is happening these days. Because, according to the NATO chief, “even if the war in Ukraine ends tomorrow, the security environment it has changed over the long term.” It should not be forgotten that in Africa, Russian and Chinese hegemony are rapidly gaining ground at the expense of Western influence. And NATO, Stoltenberg explained, “supports the European Union in its crackdown on illegal immigration. We, he added, are a military alliance and the EU has resources that we don’t have. But we work with partners like Mauritania And Tunisia to strengthen their capacities and thus theirs stability. But we’ve seen the rise of Russian presence In Africa and this proves that the Born it doesn’t have the luxury of being able to choose which sources to focus on, it has to be active at 360 degrees. How about the protection of infrastructure criticismmany of which occur in the Mediterranean region”.