(Brussels) The Member States of the European Union have agreed to top up the European Peace Facility (EPF) with 2 billion euros, the “kitty” used to finance military assistance provided to Ukraine, a announced Monday the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
“Today we are increasing the financial ceiling of the European Peace Facility by €2 billion in 2023,” he tweeted, adding that it was a “political agreement” by ministers. Foreign Affairs of the EU meeting in Brussels.
“The agreement will be formalized at the beginning of 2023” with a modification of the decision on the Facility, and provides for “the possibility of a further increase, later”, he explained.
Thus, “the total increase in the overall financial ceiling of the FEP until 2027 could reach 5.5 billion euros”, he underlined.
“Today’s decision will ensure that we have the necessary funds to continue to provide concrete military support to the armed forces of our partners”, maintained Josep Borrell.
Described by Josep Borrell as a “cagnotte” constituted by the Member States outside the common EU budget and topped up by their contributions, the European Peace Facility had been endowed with 5.7 billion euros for the period 2021- 2027 in order to finance operational actions under the common foreign and security policy (CFSP).
It was used shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine to finance arms supplies to Kyiv.
Some 3.1 billion euros have already been disbursed to reimburse Member States for armaments and ammunition taken from their stocks and supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Facility has also been used for military training programs in Mozambique, Georgia, Moldova, Mali, Somalia, Niger, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon and Mauritania.
“86% of the overall financial ceiling for 2021-2027 has already been committed in 2022, which made a first increase necessary”, explained the services of Josep Borrell.
“Reimbursement claims submitted by Member States for their arms supplies to Ukraine currently amount to 5 billion euros, and for this reason it was necessary to top up the budget of the Facility”, explained a European official.
“However, the decision to add 2 billion will not make it possible to finance new arms deliveries with the Facility, but to reimburse EU states for the arms they have already delivered”, he added. He specifies.
Including bilateral supplies (military aid granted by states from their national budgets), military support from EU member states to Ukraine amounts to almost 9 billion euros, Borrell said.