An emergency EU summit is scheduled for February 1, where leaders will approve a multi-year budget. One of the top issues on the agenda will be the creation of a European Union defense fund.
The idea was proposed by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton. The European Commissioner announced the possibility of creating a defense fund of the European Union in the amount of EUR 100 billion and called for increasing arms production in order to keep up with Russia’s defense potential. Breton also said the European Union could catch on to Russia’s pace of arms production within a year and a half to two years, noting that it was extremely important for the EU to have the same potential.
The European Union has the capacity to intensify weapons production, and in the context of the ongoing increase in Russian military output and its cooperation with other states within the axis of evil, such a solution is extremely critical for an effective fight against the aggressor.
Russia has sharply increased its own ammunition production and has also received thousands of rounds from its ally North Korea. Access to vast amounts of ammunition is vital in brutal warfare along hundreds of kilometers of trenches in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Commissioner Breton is confident that EU leaders will be able to create a fund and increase weapons production within the European Union. However, the stubborn position of the pro-Russian Viktor Orban, who continues to block aid to Ukraine, may stand in the way of the effort. In response to the outright sabotage by the Hungarian prime minister, the European Parliament found an option to bypass Orban’s blockade and initiated a collection of signatures to deprive Hungary of voting rights due to violations of EU law.
Right now, in the context of the paced-up operation of Russia’s military-industrial complex and Kremlin’s cooperation with other terrorist regimes, it is important not only to counter Russian influence in the matter of supplying military aid to Ukraine, but also to respond by increasing the production of weapons within the EU. This will allow for providing military assistance to Ukraine within a shorter timeframe, which in turn will help effectively counter Russian aggression.