European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton insists that by the spring of 2024, the production potential of defense enterprises in the EU will reach one million artillery shells every year, but the transfer of ammunition to Ukraine requires political will.
He informed the members of the European Parliament about this at a question-and-answer session on the obligation to provide Ukraine with a million ammunitions, writes European Pravda with reference to DW.
Thus, according to his estimation, by the end of 2024, the production potential will be even 1.3-1.4 million shells.
Breton noted that he came to this conclusion after visiting military-industrial companies in fifteen EU countries.
At the same time, according to him, "the problem lies in the situation with contracts in general", since about 40% of production leaves Europe and goes to third countries.
And in order for all manufactured ammunition to be transferred to Ukraine, the countries of the European Union should give priority to production specifically for Ukraine. According to the European Commissioner, this was his proposal at first, but it was not supported by the EU Council.
In addition, the member states of the European Union do not currently sign a sufficient number of contracts for the production of projectiles, he believes.
"We are building the European defense market step by step. Signing contracts will make it possible to speed up our deliveries to Ukraine," he said.
As Breton emphasizes, production is accelerating, the EU can quickly create additional capacities, but for supplies to Ukraine in the first place there must be political will.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics believes that the European Union should find ammunition for Ukraine abroad.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the European Union will not be able to fulfill its plan to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells by March 2024 due to the state of defense production and bureaucratic obstacles.
In October, the Bloomberg agency reported that the European Union fulfilled approximately 30% of the total volume of ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
On October 24, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, said that Ukraine should establish its own production of ammunition, as their shortage is felt all over the world.
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