He made these statements on the last day of the security conference. Borrell sees the EU defense summit on March 8 and 9 as an opportunity for European countries to offer munitions from their stockpiles to Ukraine. He also pointed out that it takes European countries more than ten months to actually order and receive ammunition.
“We are in urgent war mode,” Borrell said. “This ammunition shortage needs to be resolved very quickly, otherwise it will be a matter of weeks.”
Peace Fund
Borrell is also considering using the existing 3.6 billion euro European peace fund to produce munitions, following his idea from Finnish Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. He will reportedly present the plan to European foreign ministers next Monday.
“The Estonian idea works in the medium term,” Borrell said of the plan. He believes that the urgency of the shortfalls is such that EU countries need to draw on existing reserves. ‘We have to use what Member States have available. Much more can be done much more quickly, and must be done. We must increase and accelerate our military support. It takes almost 10 months to buy a 155mm shell and almost three years to buy a surface-to-air missile. This is not how it should be in a war situation like this.”